Forward defence in depth: how to preserve Australia’s strategy of denial

This ASPI strategy paper articulates a doctrine ('forward defence in depth') that commits Australia to deepening forward posture and ally-partner integration across all domains—a foundational policy statement that, if adopted by Defence, would drive procurement, personnel, and posture decisions affecting Maritime Defence (Pillar 6) and Alliance (Pillar 7). The paper explicitly diagnoses Chinese long-range strike, space, and cyber capabilities as outrunning current ADF denial capacity, signalling that current force structure is insufficient and justifying accelerated capability investment and forward basing.