Jack Waterford | Australia, Papua New Guinea defence deal AUKUS and why it matters

The mutual defence treaty between Australia and Papua New Guinea could be a masterstroke for both countries, if our defence boffins could think laterally. I bet they won't.

One could, for example, use Papua New Guinea volunteers to make up the serious shortfall of numbers in our submarine service. Short of press gangs, the prospect of fresh Australian volunteers over the next 20 years is dim. The US has much the same problem.

One would start with our diesel subs, with aspiration to go nuclear (if we ever see the damn things) later. Even now, Australia struggles to have a fraction of the men and women to crew even the reduced number of submarines we can have at sea at any moment. Despite excellent pay and quite good conditions, submarine service is unpopular, particularly because of l