Just before Christmas, the Albanese Government released the findings of a report into how much funding the federal government contributes to those institutions around the country that research and report on the contemporary challenges facing Australian strategic policy.

This is a significant report with important consequences for Australia’s global engagement. But it has not received the attention it deserves.

Led by former Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade secretary Peter Varghese, the report presents options on how to make those grants to think tanks more competitive, and what the government’s future role would be in shaping how these institutions focus on matters critical to Australia’s international security environment.

[Photo of Peter Varghese above courtesy of University of Queensland]

Varghese wants governments to seek contestability earlier in the making of policy and more often. And his report makes it clear that “governments must accept the [think tank] sector will present some at times uncomfortable and at times even unhelpful contributions, but debate is both healthy and necessary”.

Even before release, however, Canberra folklore had decided that the report was expressly designed to give Labor cover to close down the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

ASPI was created by the Howard Government in 2001 to provide contestable advice on Australian defence policy. But it has since strayed a considerable distance from that charter.

Since 2017, ASPI has gained a prominence all its own,........

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