Unaccountable rises: A Defence leadership Trifecta performs at Parliament, while China shifts the ground on AUKUS
About this episode
Marcus and Michael discuss key takeaways from Australian Defence officials' testimony to Parliament, highlighting issues of public trust and performance.
Marcus and Michael each pick their three stand out takeaways from Australian Defence officials testimony about delivery and performance to the Parliament. It's hard to pick winners in a field like this, but there's some overlap in the Grumpy choices. Taxpayers and the Parliament are not amongst them, unfortunately. Looking at the performance of senior Defence officials, 'Condescending emptiness' and 'falling upward' are terms that come to mind. None of this is building public trust in our Defence organisation or its leadership. Beyond the nasty realisation that senior Australian Defence officials are no longer servants of the public or the Parliament, but simply creatures of the Government of the day, it's good to have individual officials on the public record making claims that can be compared to evidence. Past statements (even carefully crafted avoiding manoeuvres) didn't stack up well for several - including incoming Chief of Australia's military, Mark Hammond. New Secretary Quinn displayed novel contortions to the English language and made a new 'AUKUS truth' that others then embraced. Then the Grumpies helicopter away from events in the Parliament and look at UK defence…
People in this episode
Hosts: Marcus, Michael
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Australian Defence, AUKUS, UK, Parliament, Government
More episodes of The Grumpy Strategists
- Grumpy Strategists episode 77: Those silly Canadians. Drone wars - US joins Ukraine. & Zumwalt: The Expense Continues
- Accountability is king, but no one is responsible. The tragedy of Australian Defence leaders forced to waste their time & our money
- America in Asia: a very different Hegesth to 2025 & regional ordering amongst disorder
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Grumpy Strategists podcast page.