Australia to respond to surface fleet review in 2024
The delay in publishing Ausralia's surface fleet review indicates there is a struggle going on at the top of the Ministry of Defence about how to best proceed (Photo: Chief of the Royal Australian Navy, Twitter/X)
The Australian government will receive the much-anticipated independent Royal Australian Navy surface fleet review today, but will not publish the document or its response until next year.
Responding to questions in a TV interview with ABC on 28 September 2023, the Australian deputy prime minister and minister of defence, Richard Marles, stated: ‘The Government will work through its processes in pretty short shrift to provide a response to that over the next few months… in the early part of next year.’
By taking an extended period of time into 2024 to make a decision about the review it is clear that the government has difficult decisions to make. However, taking extra time to deliver a response goes against the clear need for urgency - as indicated in
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