ASPI this week released our Cost of Defence report which, as always, has taken a thorough and rigorous look at every dollar spent on defence in the budget. And to help us make sense of the $66.4 billion that Australia will be spending, we’re joined by our director of defence strategy, Mike Hughes.

Mike is one of the report’s main authors along with Marc Ablong, Courtney Stewart and Linus Cohen. Their conclusion, in sum, is that Australia is “buying a future and is doing so by accepting that the ADF will be able to do less today”.

Mike puts the dollars in context, welcoming the lift in spending but describing a program of approvals and spending that remains too slow. He explains the mismatch between rhetoric that the strategic environment is dire and getting worse, and reality is that the corresponding urgency isn’t there in the investment.

He talks about Australia’s recent spending growth compared with other countries in the region including China, and the welcome boost to workforce but the decline in acquisition and sustainment spending, which will be an issue for the current force. He also walks us through the byzantine ways of calculating spending as a percentage of GDP and, most importantly, what actually needs to be done now, such as approving money for integrated air and missile defence and the so-called connective tissue that ensures readiness.

Links:

Read the cost of Defence: ASPI Defence budget brief 2026-2027 here

Yalkun Uluyol, China researcher at Human Rights Watch, joins us to discuss the repression of Uyghurs and other minority groups in China — and why human rights abuses are struggling to stay on the global agenda.

Yalkun has spent years documenting abuses in Xinjiang, including mass surveillance, arbitrary detention, forced labour and the suppression of Uyghur identity and culture. He also brings a deeply personal perspective: his own father has been arbitrarily jailed.

The conversation explores how the Chinese government is trying to reshape China’s global image, portraying Xinjiang as stable and harmonious despite extensive reporting by Human Rights Watch and others. Yalkun also discusses Beijing’s influence in international institutions, the intimidation of other countries, and the growing difficulty of conducting China research.

At a time when wars, economic shocks, great-power competition and artificial intelligence dominate global attention, Yalkun makes the case for why human rights advocacy still matters — and how governments, researchers and citizens can keep these issues in view.

The episode also looks at forced labour in Xinjiang and its links to global supply chains, from batteries to Labubu dolls.

Benedikta von Seherr-Thoß is Managing Director for Peace, Security and Defence at the European External Action Service—the European Commission’s diplomatic arm. As the EEAS official responsible for bringing to life the recently signed EU-Australia Strategic and Defence Partnership, Benedikta visited Canberra and Sydney this week for talks with Australian officials.

Benedikta joined us to talk about the partnership, about why Europe and Australia need to work more closely together given the very global nature and impact of security threats, and about the US-Europe relationship, the war in Ukraine and the implications of it all the Indo-Pacific, notably Taiwan.

Europe is embarked on a generational project to rearm, with big increases to defence budgets and an outreach to likeminded parts around the world in the face of the threat from Russia and Donald Trump’s scepticism about helping with European security. Benedikta shares her views on Australian companies’ access to the large buckets of funding such as the Security Action for Europe or SAFE mechanism, and the reforms underway for a more coordinated European defence industry and better procurement processes.

Links:

The Australia-European Union Security and Defence Partnership

Read Bart Hogeveen’s explainer on the EU–Australia Security and Defence Partnership