China's ability to hit Australia with missiles 'real and growing'

China's demonstrated ability to strike Australian mainland and critical infrastructure (subsea cables, trade routes) materially degrades Australia's maritime defence posture and creates new vulnerabilities in its supply chains and communications. This directly challenges Pillar 6 (Maritime Defence) assumptions and increases the credibility of kinetic and hybrid scenarios, forcing reassessment of AUKUS deterrence adequacy and allied force positioning in the Indo-Pacific.