{"podcast":{"title":"Asia Pacific Defence Reporter","slug":"asia-pacific-defence-reporter-6383527","podcast_index_feed_id":6383527,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/6461aa4dcd2b40001119e5eb","website_url":"https://shows.acast.com/asia-pacific-defence-reporter","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/6461aa4dcd2b40001119e5eb/1684198081627-7712deed25df6e09bfce1eb0c3174cad.jpeg","author":"Marilyn Butler","episode_count":148,"summary":"These podcasts are a way of shedding a bit more light on Defence decisions – particularly acquisitions – because the system has become secretive and taxpayers have a right to know what’s going on. But it’s even worse than that with Defence sometimes putting out information that is misleading and in some cases plain wrong. We discuss the Defence Strategic Review and debunk the claims that it is some sort of radical and positive move. No it is not. We also have a few words about the outrageous decision to purchase the SURTASS towed array sonar via FMS and preview the ANAO report into the Hunter class frigate program. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-16T12:20:58.950355+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/asia-pacific-defence-reporter-6383527"},"episode":{"title":"Episode 135","slug":"episode-135","published_at":"2026-04-21T00:30:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/asia-pacific-defence-reporter-6383527/episode-135","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/asia-pacific-defence-reporter-6383527","url":"https://asiapacificdefencereporter.com","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/6461aa4dcd2b40001119e5eb/e/69e6b7c366c3374f7eb5bb86/media.mp3","summary":"Last week saw the release of both the National Defence Strategy and the associated Integrated Investment Plan. Rather than squabbling over the amount - there is a genuine, if small, increase in funding - people should be asking how much additional capability will this buy. The answer is, probably not enough, though more on drones is undoubtedly a good thing.  Speaking at the National Press Club, Defence Minister Richard Marles proved again how out of touch he is by claiming that the US is still a dependable ally and that the international rules based order is still in place when clearly it is not. People can see this daily with their own eyes. He also repeated the falsehood that the government is spending record amounts on Defence. This is untrue. We are currently at 2.08% of GDP. In 1981-82 the fraction of GDP was 2.4% rising to 2.6% three years later. During the Vietnam War it was over 3%.  Can people please start holding Ministers to account for this absolute, provable, factually incorrect nonsense. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","meta_description":"Last week saw the release of both the National Defence Strategy and the associated Integrated Investment Plan. Rather than squabbling over the amount - th…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1243,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/asia-pacific-defence-reporter-6383527/episodes/episode-135/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/asia-pacific-defence-reporter-6383527/episode-135.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}