This opening conversation will examine what it takes to deliver the concept of National Defence in practice; how governments, industry and Defence can work together to strengthen Australia’s industrial base, preparedness and self-reliance; and the role that initiatives underway in South Australia play in supporting the nation’s long-term security objectives.  

The 2026 National Defence Strategy places deterrence at the centre of Australia’s defence policy, yet fundamental questions remain about what Australia and its allies are seeking to deter and whether current approaches are credible in the eyes of potential adversaries. This session will examine the strategy of denial, the threats and behaviours Australia seeks to shape and deter, and the role of sovereign and collective efforts in building a credible deterrence posture. 

While the United States remains central to the regional balance of power, middle powers are playing a growing role in upholding the rules and norms underpinning a free and open Indo-Pacific. This panel will assess whether middle powers have a common perception of threats to the regional order, and how cooperation among them can reinforce stability and shape a favourable strategic environment. 

Generating operational mass in the Indo-Pacific requires new approaches to projecting, sustaining and employing military power across vast distances and contested environments. This panel will examine how Australia and its partners can build a more asymmetric and resilient future force through autonomous systems, AI-enabled operations, distributed capabilities and deeper industry integration. 

Australia’s ability to act in its own interests during crisis depends not only on military capability, but on the resilience of the industrial base, supply chains and sustainment systems that underpin it. This panel will consider how domestic procurement, industrial resilience and sustainment capacity contribute to operational endurance, sovereign decision-making and Australia’s ability to preserve strategic choice in times of disruption.

Allied industrial cooperation can deliver strategic advantage when it translates into capability at the speed and scale required. This session will examine how allies and partners can overcome practical barriers to industrial integration, strengthen supply-chain resilience and accelerate capability delivery through more effective defence industrial cooperation. 

As Australia’s strategic circumstances become more challenging, National Defence will require greater public understanding of the risks, trade-offs and commitments that underpin security. This panel will explore whether Australia’s media and public debate are helping to build the social licence required for national defence, or whether a gap remains between strategic reality and public awareness.

Space underpins modern military operations, but as the domain becomes increasingly contested, assured access and resilient architecture can no longer be assumed. This panel will discuss how Australia, Japan and their partners are strengthening cooperation across the space domain to enhance resilience, support coalition operations and ensure assured access. 

Effective deterrence by denial depends on the Australian Defence Force’s ability to generate credible multi-domain effects across a vast and dynamic security environment. This session will examine how Defence is integrating maritime, land, air, space and cyber capabilities today, the critical gaps and practical constraints that remain, and the joint and combined approaches needed to credibly shape adversary risk calculations.

Australia’s defence strategy and Integrated Investment Program set clear priorities for delivering capability effects across all domains. For the Australian Defence Force, how is the Objective Integrated Force accelerating not just the delivery of new capabilities, but their integration through warfighting networks, joint command and control, and operational concepts so they can generate coordinated effects in competition and conflict? In this spotlight discussion, Lieutenant General Susan Coyle will reflect on how Joint Capabilities Group has advanced this effort—operationalising cyber and space, strengthening logistics and national support, and building the digital and workforce foundations needed to deliver a more integrated, ready and resilient force.

Delivering Australia's defence agenda will require difficult choices amid growing strategic challenges, fiscal pressures and competing priorities. This discussion will examine the greatest risks to implementing the National Defence Strategy and what Defence, government and industry must do to ensure Australia can deliver the capabilities, preparedness and resilience that national defence demands.