TWO events this week demonstrated Australia’s enduring leadership in regional military affairs. It can be a long time between drinks in military circles, where it is usually the experience old friendships can be instantly rekindled even after long separations. Such is now the case with Vietnam where after a visit this week by Defence Minister […]

TWO years ago the ambitious but hapless Stuart Robert was given a dual responsibility as minister for both Veterans’ Affairs and Human Services. Veterans were rightly concerned Canberra bureaucrats had finally achieved their longheld ambition to subsume veterans entitlements into the wider health and welfare pool. If that was indeed the plan, Robert’s personal ineptitude […]

A KEY factor in New Zealand’s defensive posture is its geographic isolation. While Australia’s air-sea gap from potential aggressors has also been cited as a key defensive asset, that gap has become less reassuring. Pundits are speculating whether rogue Marxist state North Korea’s latest rocket technology could deliver nuclear weapons to Australia. How far that […]

ONLY someone who has attempted to take a large bone from a small terrier understands the fury it can generate. Multiply that by several terriers and bones and the fury increases exponentially. Larger dogs usually, but not always, tend to be less possessive, particularly if they have taken control of all the bones. Australia’s state […]

  Among other things, Townsville is a garrison town. If soldiers and their families are doing it tough in a city where unemployment is more than 11 per cent, twice the national average, resources here are really stretched to try to give them support. Too many veterans are falling through the cracks here and in […]

UNLIKE every other Australian state, Queensland does not yet have a dedicated minister for veterans’ affairs. It does have a Veterans Advisory Council Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls recently announced that the LNP, if elected, would create such a ministry. While veterans’ affairs remain predominantly a Federal Government responsibility, creating a state-based veterans’ department can enhance […]

Defence analysis from Ross Eastgate drawing on Winston Churchill’s experience with ‘Mohammadans’ in both Afghanistan and the Sudan. Preparing for the long war ahead while discovering there is nothing new under Allah.. READ MORE  

Proficiency in another language is always helpful, particularly when a discrete profanity is required. In a life not always well spent mixing with soldiers of multiple nationalities in exotic locations, discovering new swear words has proved a valuable education. What passes as unacceptably profane in one language may be acceptable in another particularly when the words […]

Written by Ross Eastgate Sydney’s Mardi Gras parade is on  Saturday, March 4. It’s a date for your diaries, though you had better be quick if you want to reserve a place. In the interests of maintaining the mutually co-operative relationship between the Bulletin and Defence PR, Defenders is proud to assist promoting ADF participation […]

David Morrison crawled away from his Australian of the Year role as he performed it, self-aggrandising, unapologetic and intellectually irrelevant. Good riddance except credit where credit is due as he finally made some concession to those he should have been representing all along by acknowledging Legacy and the Salvos. It was a pity he studiously […]