In this Centre of Gravity paper, three of Australia’s leading strategists and defence practitioners from the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Emeritus Professor Paul Dibb, Honorary Professor Richard Brabin-Smith, and Honorary Professor Brendan Sargeant, make the case for bold, new strategic thinking and imagination in Australian defence policy.

In 'Why We Need a Radically New Defence Policy', Emeritus Professor Paul Dibb analyses Australia’s deteriorating strategic outlook, how China is threatening our strategic space, why the US is becoming a less reliable ally, and why we need to become more self-reliant.

In 'Future Challenges and a New Defence Policy', Honorary Professor Richard Brabin-Smith focuses on why defence warning time has now dramatically shortened because of the potential threat from China’s military capabilities and examines the consequent implications for the ADF.

In 'Strategic Imagination and Defence Policy in a World in Transition', Honorary Professor Brendan Sargeant explains the crucial need for a much more imaginative strategic policy that strengthens Australia’s ability to handle defence crises and argues for a significantly increased defence budget.