The Indian Ocean is of vital strategic importance to Australia, even if this fact has not been a prominent aspect of the ongoing defence debate in this nation. Media reports this year indicate that discussions with the United States are now under way over basing access in the Indian Ocean, while a Force Posture Review is now under way, which could see increased ADF basing in Western Australia. At this time the ADF's hub for operations in the north of the continent is the Northern Territory, with principal ADF basing infrastructure in Darwin and Tindal. This reflects the Indonesia-centric thinking which pervaded Defence planning since Konfrontasi during the early 1960s, and has continued to dominate force structure planning in Canberra, despite the deep, pervasive and fundamental strategic changes arising from the industrialisation of Asia, and the resulting rise of China as a major regional power. ...read
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