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Australia's sovereign security and a shifting world order: UNSW co-hosts key forum

UNSW

STRICTLY EMBARGOED UNTIL 0500AM AEDT FRIDAY 27 MARCH

 

• Professor David Kilcullen and Malcolm Turnbull AC lead critical conversation on national security and defence strategy
• Forum explores how Australia can confront increasingly uncertain global environment
• Government, defence and industry leaders to examine sovereign capability, resilience and emerging threats

 

The state of global security is at its worst in decades, marked by escalating conflicts, fragmented power and increased geopolitical tensions.

For Australia, the challenge goes far beyond defence spending. It must be ready for a world where long-standing assumptions about alliances no longer hold. Sovereignty now spans supply chains, energy resilience, critical technologies, cyber security and the increasingly contested 'grey zone' between peace and conflict.

At this urgent moment, the Sovereignty and Security Forum, hosted by UNSW Prof. David Kilcullen and The Hon Malcolm Turnbull AC, will bring together leading voices to examine what Australia must and can do to secure its sovereignty in this age of disruption.

Prof. David Kilcullen said Donald Trump’s presidency was a ‘wake-up’ call to Australia, exposing vulnerabilities now being tested by international conflicts.

“Donald Trump is a global chaos agent. But from a strategic standpoint, President Trump doesn’t really matter,” Prof. Kilcullen said.

“The acute issues raised by the Trump presidency are symptoms of a chronic problem that Australians must address: a generational, century-shaping set of circumstances that risk destroying our way of life if we don’t face up to them.

"We live in a dangerous neighbourhood, in an increasingly unstable global system, a very long way from friends and allies. We’re a maritime trading nation with global economic interests, separated by vast distances from critical markets and sources of supply, relying on fragile international systems such as energy flows, transport systems and globalised just-in-time manufacturing."

"If we want greater agency in the world, greater respect from allies and adversaries alike, and greater resilience to shocks like the ones we’re currently experiencing, we must build the resilience resources and sovereign self-reliance to stand on our own. Time is running out fast. This is not a moment for business as usual, and we owe the Australian people an honest accounting of where things stand.”

Australia’s 29^th Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull warned the country is facing a far more dangerous and uncertain world, yet the national response has been marked more by silence than serious public debate.

 

“A year into the second Trump Administration, it is very plain the United States is under very different management. Might makes right is not just the sub text, it is the headline,” Mr Turnbull said.

 

“The recent National Defence Strategy dismisses the ‘international rules based order’ as a ‘cloud-castle abstraction.’”

 

“So far we have seen little or no reaction from Canberra and very little public debate about the implications for Australia. This discreet silence carries with it grave risks that the Australian people are neither aware, or prepared for, the dangers of our disrupted world. Hope is not a strategy.”

 

About Prof. David Kilcullen

David Kilcullen is Professor of War Studies at UNSW Canberra and an influential author. A scholar of irregular warfare, urbanisation and the future of conflict, he served 25 years for the Australian and US governments as a soldier, diplomat and intelligence analyst. He teaches contemporary strategy and special operations at UNSW Canberra, where he also co-leads the Future Operations Research Group and the World In Transition project on Australian competitive statecraft. In 2021 he was honoured by the US Congress for his role in rescuing more than 2300 Afghan allies during the fall of Kabul.

About UNSW Canberra

UNSW Canberra is Australia’s leading defence education and research institution. This forum underscores the University’s role at the intersection of research, policy and practice in Australia’s national security landscape. Through its work with government, the Australian Defence Force and industry, UNSW Canberra shapes the ideas, capabilities and partnerships needed to respond to a changing strategic environment.

Further details and register for online event here.

Contact details:

UNSW - Ashleigh Steele, +61 421 308 805 or [email protected]