Concerns over Australia’s lack of air defence are being raised after China’s test firing of a nuclear-capable missile into the Pacific, with warnings that military facilities such as the key AUKUS hub of HMAS Stirling in Western Australia lack adequate protection.
The Albanese government has this week led global condemnation of Beijing’s “provocative” actions after a People’s Liberation Army-Navy submarine on Monday launched a ballistic weapon into waters close to Tuvalu and Nauru.
Strategic experts are warning China is likely to increase the number of missile tests in this region, while the opposition says the recent operation by the PLA highlights Australia’s lack of preparedness.
“Australia’s integrated air and missile defence (IAMD) is totally inadequate for an age of missiles and drones,” shadow defence minister James Paterson told The Nightly.
“Many of our key bases and facilities are dangerously exposed to the increasing range of PLA missiles as powerfully demonstrated this week,” the Liberal frontbencher warned.
Senator Paterson has highlighted the impending rotation of US and British nuclear-powered submarines at HMAS Stirling under the AUKUS program to stress the need for Australia to quickly acquire technology to defend against ballistic weapon attacks.
“We urgently need ground-based missile and drone defence for potential targets like HMAS Stirling, which will host US and UK nuclear submarines next year.”
“The Albanese government must urgently prioritise investments in IAMD so that we can defend these critical facilities.”
A spokesperson for Defence Minister Richard Marles responded by saying Senator Paterson knew “full well” that the Albanese government was delivering “the largest increase to Defence funding in Australia’s history”.
“He knows this because when the Coalition was last in government, they observed that our strategic circumstances had significantly deteriorated but did nothing about it,” the spokesperson said. “It’s now mid-2026 and the Coalition still has no plan when it comes to delivering what the ADF needs or increasing investment in defence, including for integrated air and missile defence.”
From next year up to four US, and one British boat, will begin deploying to Western Australia under the first stage of AUKUS known as Submarine Rotational Force-West (SRF-West).
In 2023 Labor’s Defence Strategic Review indefinitely postponed plans to acquire a Medium Range Ground Based Air Defence capability, while global demand for missiles has also increased significantly since Russia began its attempted invasion of Ukraine.
During a Senate estimates hearing last month, senior defence officials were quizzed about concerns over the slow pace of acquiring integrated air-and-missile defence to protect key military facilities.
“We have come to the judgement that it would be a better balance of investment to do the minimum required upgrades to our air-battle management system and then bring in more effectors, because that would give us a better capability sooner,” Air Marshal Robert Chipman told Parliament in June.
Shadow foreign minister Ted O’Brien has also demanded that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese directly call China’s President Xi Jinping to discuss Australia’s concerns.
“The Government claims to have stabilised the relationship with China and to have built positive relations. If the relationship is as good as Labor suggests, surely a phone call between leaders is not too big an ask.”
This week The Nightly detailed how at least four high-tech Chinese space surveillance ships were deployed across the Pacific ahead of Monday’s test-firing, including a vessel that arrived in Fiji just days before the nation signed a defence treaty with Australia.
