Australia launches bipartisan committee to assess civil readiness for potential war

Federal officials have created a bipartisan parliamentary committee on defence to examine how Australia can ready its civil economy for the fallout of a possible war in Asia or on the mainland. The inquiry will solicit submissions until November and will evaluate the capacity of businesses, essential services and infrastructure to sustain operations during a crisis. Defence Minister Richard Marles noted that decades of peace have left national resilience under-addressed, a gap the committee aims to close.

Labor Senator Deb O'Neill, the committee chair, stressed that defending sovereignty involves every sector of society, while Liberal Senator Dave Sharma called for “insurance policies” to boost self-reliance. A particular focus will be on securing fuel and fertiliser imports after disruptions linked to the Iran War, and on learning from Nordic and Baltic resilience models.