Australian Security in the New Century - Essay Example

Although the attacks were targeted America, they proved that no nation and no people, were safe from this new threat. The tactics used were often suicidal in nature and thus, the attacks are extremely hard to control, once they have been initiated. The funding mechanisms and training cells for organizations that launch and support such terrorist activities are spread throughout the world and can not be routed out in a day. To deal with this threat in a comprehensive manner, vast and sweeping changes were required in the security policies of most nations that considered themselves at threat.

The following areas that pose a threat to the security of the Australian nation and it's people can be identified: 1. Environmental Security: Though the global war on terrorism still dominates as the main security issue, Australia is currently analyzing and addressing its environmental security issues namely climate change and global warming. In addition, environmental security threats can be classified under two broad categories, firstly, natural threats such as volcanoes, earth quakes, tsunamis and bush fires and secondly, threats posed due to human activities, such as ozone depletion and the greenhouse effect.

Australia's rising awareness of and commitment to combating environmental threats can be gauged from the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC 2007) summit, which was held in Sydney, Australia on 8-9 September, 2007, where the Sydney APEC Leaders' jointly declared that they would be committed to taking wide-ranging and ambitious actions to address the issue of environmental quality and contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. 2. Military focused security issues: After the year 2000, the focus of Australia's strategic policy was enhanced to look beyond the erstwhile narrow emphasis on the defense of the continent based on a reliance on US support to preserve a stable power balance in Asia.

This carried two main implication for the Australian defence infrastructure, namely, the increase in land force capabilities for regional cooperation and a sustained investment in high-tech air and naval capabilities. The three main factors which influenced the Australian defense policy after 200 are : i.) The operations in Iraq raised questions about the balance between the size and weight of the Australian land forces. ii) Instability in the pacific raised the need to develop the capacity to