Latest news with #Shoebridge
Sky News AU
13-07-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Security expert Michael Shoebridge claims Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's 'embarrassing' China play risking Australia's future
Strategic Analysis Australia director Michael Shoebridge has warned the Albanese government's "embarrassing" approach to China risks harming the nation's future. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is currently in Beijing for his second official visit to China and will meet President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday. The visit comes amid significant scrutiny over how the government is managing ties with the United States, with some analysts suggesting Labor's approach to Beijing risked alienating the nation's most important ally. Speaking to Sky News Australia, Mr Shoebridge argued recent public demands from officials in the Trump Administration for Australia to up its defence spending and give assurances over the use of nuclear submarines were "a sign of the state of the alliance". Similar requests were normally made in private, the SAA director explained, making the recent calls "really odd". Mr Shoebridge suggested Mr Albanese's recent comments on China were unlikely to improve the situation, saying the Prime Minister did not "seem to know" the purpose of a key military exercise designed to help respond to threats from Beijing. "This is why so many American troops, along with other partners like Japan and South Korea, are turning up in Australia with this big Talisman Sabre exercise that's happening right when the Prime Minister is in China," he said. "He (Mr Albanese) doesn't seem to know what the purpose of the exercise is, but it's to be able to practise having military forces operate out of Australia to protect Australia and to conduct a military campaign in the region, most likely against China, and by doing that to demonstrate China shouldn't start a war." Despite pleas from a number of experts for the Prime Minister to take a harder line on China, Mr Albanese has instead used his latest trip to talk up closer trade ties with Beijing and encourage Chinese tourists to visit Australia. According to Mr Shoebridge, the failure to address security concerns was an "embarrassing" error, which could leave Australia in a precarious position. Referencing the Prime Minister's remark Australia depended upon "free and fair trade" the SAA director warned China could not be trusted to uphold its agreements and urged the government to diversify away from Beijing. "What a mystifying comment from the Prime Minister that we depend on free and open trade," he said. "Beijing does not engage in free and opened trade. Beijing hit Australia over the head with $20 billion of coercive trade barriers that it's now removed. Meanwhile, it's hitting the rest of the world over the ahead around rare earth access because it's weaponized its economy. "It wants countries to become more dependent on it so that it can use its economy as a weapon and the Prime Minister is signing up to have this done to Australia. It's embarrassing and it's a national interest error. "We are just being lazy and very short-sighted in doubling down on our trade dependence with China when we know China uses its economy as a weapon. The Europeans aren't doing this, Japan's not doing this. America's certainly not doing, but we are."
West Australian
04-07-2025
- Business
- West Australian
Military experts say Australian Defence bases ‘extraordinarily vulnerable'
Military experts have raised major concerns with the vulnerability of Australia's defence bases. Civilian spectators gathered at RAAF Williamtown in NSW on Thursday to watch Australia's $100 million F-35 Stealth Fighters take off. WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Calls for heightened security around Australian defence bases. But the sight of our most lethal fighter jets being put through their paces in front of an audience has some, like leading strategic analyst Michael Shoebridge, worried. 'Australia's military bases all around the country are extraordinarily vulnerable,' Shoebridge told 7NEWS. Ukraine showed why in June when it blew up dozens of Russian aircraft using a barrage of drones launched from trucks parked close by air bases. 'We need a heightened sense of security and vigilance,' Shoebridge said. He said Canberra is not listening. 'The shift of spending needs to be to protect these bases and the multibillion-dollar assets on them,' Shoebridge said. Williamtown recently underwent a major upgrade — better ground lighting, drainage and reinforced services — to accommodate larger aircraft. 'Security of bases, ports and barracks is, and will remain, a focus for Defence resources,' a Defence spokesperson told 7NEWS. It comes after concerns were raised earlier this year when a Chinese naval taskforce circumnavigated Australia . Canberra is also under growing pressure from Washington to lift Defence spending. 'I've said very clearly we will invest in the capability that Australia needs,' Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. Australian companies including DroneShield sell their products to Europe and Ukraine, but Australia is not a customer. Shoebridge said this 'is very strange' because 'they're much cheaper than air and missile defence systems' used by other countries, including the US.
7NEWS
04-07-2025
- Business
- 7NEWS
Military experts say Australian Defence bases ‘extraordinarily vulnerable'
Military experts have raised major concerns with the vulnerability of Australia's defence bases. Civilian spectators gathered at RAAF Williamtown in NSW on Thursday to watch Australia's $100 million F-35 Stealth Fighters take off. But the sight of our most lethal fighter jets being put through their paces in front of an audience has some, like leading strategic analyst Michael Shoebridge, worried. 'Australia's military bases all around the country are extraordinarily vulnerable,' Shoebridge told 7NEWS. Ukraine showed why in June when it blew up dozens of Russian aircraft using a barrage of drones launched from trucks parked close by air bases. 'We need a heightened sense of security and vigilance,' Shoebridge said. He said Canberra is not listening. 'The shift of spending needs to be to protect these bases and the multibillion-dollar assets on them,' Shoebridge said. Williamtown recently underwent a major upgrade — better ground lighting, drainage and reinforced services — to accommodate larger aircraft. 'Security of bases, ports and barracks is, and will remain, a focus for Defence resources,' a Defence spokesperson told 7NEWS. It comes after concerns were raised earlier this year when a Chinese naval taskforce circumnavigated Australia. Canberra is also under growing pressure from Washington to lift Defence spending. 'I've said very clearly we will invest in the capability that Australia needs,' Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. Australian companies including DroneShield sell their products to Europe and Ukraine, but Australia is not a customer. Shoebridge said this 'is very strange' because 'they're much cheaper than air and missile defence systems' used by other countries, including the US.
Sky News AU
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Defence expert says PM is ‘listening to Beijing' while dodging questions about Chinese aggression
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has come under blistering criticism from one of the country's top strategic analysts for his refusal to label China a security threat, as tensions continue to mount in the Indo-Pacific. Michael Shoebridge, Director of Strategic Analysis Australia, said the Prime Minister's reaction to recent comments from China's ambassador Xiao Qian showed a concerning willingness to 'listen to ridiculous propaganda lines from Beijing'. 'Mr Albanese was asked directly if China is a security threat and he couldn't even say the word,' Mr Shoebridge told Sky News host Cheng Lei. 'It's unfortunate that the only person who seems likely to take Ambassador Xiao's advice seriously is our Prime Minister.' His comments follow on from China's ambassador Xiao Qian, who urged Australia not to increase its defence spending. Mr Shoebridge likened the ambassador's claims to 'a wolf pretending to be Red Riding Hood's grandma', saying the regime has 'no good story to tell' on regional security. 'Xi Jinping has ordered the Chinese military, the People's Liberation Army, the Party's Army, the Communist Party's Army, to be ready to fight and win at a moment's notice,' he said. 'He's told them their top priority is being prepared to invade Taiwan.' He added that Chinese aggression wasn't limited to Taiwan. 'We see similar kinds of aggression from China in Southeast Asia,' Shoebridge said. 'The Chinese military is busily monitoring regional countries like Vietnam and the Philippines. Maritime militias are massing in swarms in the Philippines right now.' Despite that, Shoebridge said Australia's government is failing to articulate the threat or justify its strategic partnerships. 'Why on earth is he in AUKUS? If AUKUS and those nuclear submarines are not all about deterring an aggressive China?' he said. 'We don't hear from the Prime Minister what the purpose of our alliance with America is or that massive expenditure on submarines.' On defence spending, Shoebridge rejected both Beijing's arguments and the Albanese government's current funding targets. Australia currently spends just over 2 per cent of GDP - well below the 3.5 per cent target he recommends as a minimum. Mr Shoebridge warned the current funding level is insufficient to support even the existing defence plans. 'You cannot have a modern defence force and nuclear submarines for between 2 and 2.3 per cent of our GDP,' he said. 'We need to be spending at least three, probably three and a half percent - just to afford the Defence Force we've got on the books.' He also warned against relying on foreign defence contractors, urging support for domestic capabilities. 'If we want to actually have things like drone and counter-drone defences, we need to invest in Australian companies,' he said.
Sky News AU
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Iran ‘coping' with the US destroying its nuclear sites
Strategic Analysis Australia Director Michael Shoebridge says the US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites were 'very successfully' executed. Mr Shoebridge told Sky News host Peta Credlin that the Iranians didn't even know the US 'turned up'. 'But were coping with the damage.'
