Australia’s Defence White Papers by the Numbers

An Australian Defence White Paper is analysis framed by numbers. For forty years, White Papers have been the ultimate public expression of Australian strategy and Defence understanding of the world. More than dollars and equipment, the simple statistics of Australia’s seven Defence White Papers reveal meanings and mental maps. What does a word count of key countries and concepts reveal about those understandings and how they evolved across the seven White Papers? This commentary maps that mental topography from the typography.