This paper provides a summary of each of Australia’s defence white papers issued between 1976 and 2013 and seeks to draw out common themes that emerge in some or all of them. Executive summary Australia published defence white papers in 1976, 1987, 1994, 2000, 2009 and 2013 and a new white paper is expected in...

This background note revises material previously released by the Parliamentary Library on Australia's involvement in Afghanistan. In November 2010, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Government of Afghanistan agreed to a formal transition process that would transfer full security responsibility to Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) by the end of 2014. This process...