Australia's defence force is at risk of being overburdened as it is tasked with responding to problems growing from COVID-19, a strategic policy expert has said.
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Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive director Peter Jennings has said the military could be put under stress as it responds to the effects of COVID-19.
Defence would probably find itself with more tasks on its "dance card" than it really wanted, he told a new podcast from the security think tank.
"Any country can expect its defence force to be called in to help in emergency situations but how far is it sensible to spread the capacities of what is really a small organisation, still about half the size of the Melbourne Cricket Ground audience?," Mr Jennings said.
"Something we can't forget is when we get to the other side of the crisis, traditional state on state national security concerns I think are going to be forefront and there's good reason to be really worried about that.
"You can see a situation emerging where China will be attempting to advantage itself as best it can in the region, we have the United States going through a hellish experience itself with frankly poor leadership from the president so what is that going to do from the point of view of our traditional alliance relationship?
"And our geography is such that we are going to be surrounded by a large number of countries that are going to be infinitely worse hit than us."
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Mr Jennings said on the podcast, Australia's Next Steps, the issues would lead any strategist to think seriously about the need to rewrite Australia's 2016 Defence white paper and put more emphasis on the military's short notice readiness and its capacity to undertake stabilisation operations in states badly affected by the virus.
"I can see a lot of knock on effects which will get defence doing what it typically does and will put serious stress on the organisation and on government decision making in the not too distant future."
The international security expert said the coronavirus was a moment when democracies, such as Australia, Indonesia and Japan in the Asia-Pacific, could take a conscious decision to work together more effectively.
This could involve Australia giving money to help Indonesia's response to the pandemic.
"We cannot really live securely in this region if Indonesia is not a secure partner of Australia and therefore I think as soon as our government feels confident that it's got the right hold on the domestic Australian situation the next question they should be asking themselves is right now: 'what can we do to assist Indonesia to get over this problem?'," Mr Jennings said.
"A failure to do that would be a massive lost opportunity in the bilateral relationship but it could also lead to a vastly worse outcome in Indonesia itself."
Australia should consider doubling its aid spending and perhaps its defence spending, he said.
"But it doesn't all have to be about military equipment, it can also be about relationship building amongst the decent democracies, which I think is a core lesson out of this is that if you can't trust the autocracies to do the right thing and to be honest and open, let's work on building relationships with the democracies."
Senior institute analyst, Huong Le Thu, said the projections of the economic damage caused by COVID-19 showed the region will emerge from it in a fragile and unstable position.
"I think if anyone has doubted multilateralism, this is the moment that we revive the faith in multilateralism as well," Dr Le Thu said.
Lowy Institute foreign policy expert Michael Fullilove said earlier this month the coronavirus pandemic risked weakening Australia's relationship with both the United States and China, and that each superpower's "lacklustre" approach to the virus was troubling for the nation.
Australia's response to COVID-19 could align it closer with "coalitions" of competent middle power nations dealing with the pandemic better than the world's two largest economies, Dr Fullilove said.
- For information on COVID-19, please go to the ACT Health website or the federal Health Department's website.
- You can also call the Coronavirus Health Information Line on 1800 020 080
- If you have serious symptoms, such as difficulty breathing, call Triple Zero (000)
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