As Australia seeks to rebuild much of its aged naval fleet, it should also look to rebuild how it perceives itself in the Indo-Pacific. Australia is and has always been a regional maritime power, even if its capability has at times not kept pace with that statement. Australian leaders should not refer to Australia as having a small navy or seek to downplay our regional influence. Quite the contrary, they should lean into Australia having confidence as a regional maritime power.
It’s easy to predict the sniggering responses to the above statement. As a nation, Australians have rarely been comfortable with confidence. Many will point to Australia’s historically small surface combatant fleet or its ageing submarines. Both are valid critiques. But maritime power is not measured by ships alone. It is also measured by influence. And influence in the maritime domain goes beyond capability: it’s built on relationships.
Australia is a regional maritime power, and our regional partners have expectations of Australia to fulfil that role. The capability will come; it’s the influence Australia should focus on harnessing now.
Australia generates influence by hosting the largest regional maritime exercises, such as Exercise Kakadu and Talisman Sabre, but also through the training it provides to regional partners. Junior leaders in regional navies seek out Australia’s courses and often see attending them as a mark of prestige. In the Pacific, Australia’s support to fisheries operations and the Pacific Maritime Security Program further emphasise this point.
Why does it matter? Most obviously, Australia’s stated strategy is one of deterrence. While that concept presents significant challenges that are beyond the scope of this article, deterrence is about perception – our adversaries’ perception.
But beyond this level of simplicity, there is a deeper why. Harnessing influence in the region creates stronger regional relationships and greater regional maritime understanding. Those relationships and understanding mean that partners may turn to Australia in a maritime crisis, rather than to our adversaries. As a country with a significant maritime domain and dependencies, our maritime influence has a direct impact on our security.
National acceptance of Australia’s role as a regional maritime power can form a key unifying feature of Australia’s national maritime strategy and anchor a sense of maritime identity.
Australia should embrace its role as a regional maritime power by stating it openly, confidently, in its strategy and in the speeches of senior leaders. Secondly, Australia should look for ways to expand the maritime exercises, training, doctrinal and maintenance support that it provides – all key aspects of its role as a regional maritime power. Thirdly, Australia should consider new ways to enhance its influence as a regional maritime power.
A prime example of this would be a reinvigoration of the Indo-Pacific Endeavour task group. I sailed on the first iteration of Indo-Pacific Endeavour in 2017. It was a task group deployment of multiple ships into the Southeast Asian, Pacific and Indian Ocean waters, structured around a Canberra-class landing ship. It demonstrated capability and naval power, but more than that, it became a major task group deployment that regional partners could join by contributing either people or ships. It was created to demonstrate Australian maritime power that prioritised the region.
The gradual shift of Indo-Pacific Endeavour away from a substantial naval task group towards a program dominated by teams flown in to train regional partners is a lost opportunity.
An Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2.0 should be designed around a regional task group deployment, focused mainly on Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean and structured so that partners can contribute ships, personnel and other assets. Partners could join either in Australia or along the deployment route. Along the way, participating ships could join regional exercises, conduct capability-building activities, building on regional relationships. Importantly this would put that capability and those relationships on show.
With training a key pillar of Australia’s conceptualisation as a regional maritime power, Australia should invest in training ships. Again, this is not new. Australia has previously operated dedicated training ships, including HMAS Jervis Bay from 1977 to 1994, and in 1988 deployed a training squadron of HMAS Stalwart, Jervis Bay and Stuart through Southeast Asian waters. Dedicated training ships would give Royal Australian Navy sailors more time at sea to develop their skills while the surface combatant fleet remains so small. This would help them prepare for the fleet’s expansion in the 2030s. These deployments could also reserve bunks for sailors and officers from regional navies, helping to build professional bonds and partners’ maritime skills while conducting training and goodwill visits across the region.
Australia is a regional maritime power, with all the opportunities and responsibilities that come with that. Soon its maritime capabilities and technological edge will once again match that role. It’s therefore time to embrace that role, not just in how we speak about ourselves, but in how we build and exercise maritime influence across the region.
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