Getting Australia's population aware of implications of war

 

Setting up small farms close to townships has become increasingly important as the prospect of a prolonged war threatens. 

 William Stolz, director of the Melbourne Security Forum says: intensifying great power competition between the People’s Republic of China and the United States has meant the possibility of future war in the Indo-Pacific region has become a regular feature of Australia’s national discourse.

It is surprising how little attention has been given to what day-to-day life could look like if a war actually did break out. We need to take the necessary steps to improve Australia’s preparedness.

the government has a detailed understanding of how war could impact domestic supplies of critical goods and international freight transporting supplies to Australia.

There are three categories of goods that would be most impacted by war:

• energy and fuel

• pharmaceuticals

• smart devices and electronic components.

These are indispensable to the our daily lives of many people. Yet, Australia cannot produce enough of these goods domestically to endure the supply disruptions that a conflict would bring.

As a member of the International Energy Agency, Australia has an obligation to maintain sufficient reserves of refined fuel to meet its needs for 90 days. In practice, however, Australia has never met the requirement. Our domestic capacity for refining fuel has gone backwards and we have insufficient storage facilities. Recent unpublished estimates from the energy sector suggest if supply lines were cut today, Australia would only have enough fuel to meet just days or weeks of demand.

Once road freight is impacted by a lack of fuel, supermarkets would face shortages of basic goods. Air travel would collapse. Non-essential retail businesses and most personal vehicle travel would likely cease, as fuel would be need to be rationed for freight, emergency services and the military.

It’s important to emphasise that Australia’s low onshore capacity to refine and store fuel would mean these dire impacts could be expected from even a relatively short-lived crisis disrupting our maritime supply lines.