The Echidna Strategy overturns the conventional wisdom about Australias security. Australia will need to defend itself without American help but this doesnt need to cost more. The truth which no Australian political leader is willing to confront is that Americas security is not threatened by Chinas rise. Once we accept that conclusion the entire edifice on which our security has been built crumbles and we need to start afresh. Yet despite the rapid growth of Chinas military defending Australia need not be particularly difficult. Our leaders insist on making it expensive and hard. Even worse in the name of the US alliance they expose our country to more danger. The Echidna Strategy sheds new light on the contest for leadership in Asia and the strategy Australia needs to thrive. This includes a radically different approach to defence. Above all it means a bolder Australian foreign policy with three goals: leadership in the Pacific; a much stronger relationship with Indonesia; and a regional order centred on a gathering of its great powers. Essential reading for anyone interested in our nations security in an uncertain world where the enduring supremacy of the United States cannot be assumed or assured. -Malcolm Turnbull Here is a voice bold in its conclusions and forensic in its logic which defies the echo chamber of current strategic policy. -Peter Varghese
