Five Key Questions in 2025
Australia is at a precipice. Here we highlight some of the larger considerations – and some suggestions we have.
Key observations
Australian strategic policy is being challenged by a rapidly changing strategic environment – old sureties have eroded or, perhaps for a while now, no longer apply.
Australian strategic contexts and national interests need to adapt to a new world order shaped by naked power and spheres of influence and less by the rules and alliances that have favoured it for so long.
Holistic, integrated regulatory reforms are needed, and current initiatives – including the National Reconstruction Fund and AUKUS Pillar II – should be recast, to imbue greater freedom and support for innovation and entrepreneurship, and scaling for Australian capabilities.
We could see this was coming – first slowly, and then at speed over the last couple of months, the reshaping of norms, the global order and expectations.
The strategic environment is increasingly being shaped by power rather than principles, by nationalist hegemonic ambition – often to return to past glories.
All the sureties of the last two to three decades are adrift. Decision-makers in Canberra are having difficulty grasping the changes in the international strategic environment, let alone formulating clear, coherent responses. That's understandable: these are tough matters, hard to discern, let alone anticipate. So here are five questions to help focus the discussion needed inside policy circles and the wider community. Over the next few weeks, these are some of the themes we will address.