Australia in a Straitjacket: An analysis of Australia’s bipartisan approach to national security issues Introduction Andrew Carr has argued that bipartisanship, rather than being a benefit to Australia, has been “a straitjacket” to national policy, making Australia “far less effective in its policy creation, policy implementation and protecting those on the front line” (2017, p. 269). This essay seeks to critically analyse that argument in the light of two national security issues currently relevant to Australia, counterterrorism and AUKUS. By examining the harms and benefits brought by bipartisanship in these two areas, this essay argues that the kind of bipartisanship Australia brings to national security is not beneficial and should be reformed. …show more content…
Carr, 2017; Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade [JSCFADT], 2018; Matthews & Ravenhill, 1988). In the current era of politics, there may be some differences in specific details of national security policies between the parties, however their overall stances remain largely the same (Bell, 1984; A. Carr, 2017). This bipartisanship is enforced through public criticism, by media organisations, think tanks, and the political parties themselves, of those who speak against the consensus on national security issues (A. Carr, 2017). National security, it is said, is above politics, as it is too important an issue to be subject to partisan fighting; no less than the Director-General of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation himself espoused this point in 2022 (Belot, 2022; A. Carr, 2017). Any perception a party is using national security to score political points is quickly called out and amplified by the media, regardless of the legitimacy of the concerns (A. Carr, 2017; Martin & Butler, 2022; Wearring, 2022). Before continuing further, it is important to discuss the nature of bipartisanship, and the two different ways in which bipartisanship can be brought