From Whiteboard to White Paper - Student Perspectives on the 2016 Australian Defence White Paper

The importance of community insights and proposals for shaping the Australian Defence White Paper has changed markedly since its inception in 1976 as a public document for Australian defence policy. These changes began in earnest in 2000 with the Community Consultation Program, prior to which the formulation of ideas for the Defence White Paper fell almost exclusively under the remit of government policymakers and defence practitioners. However, the advent of the Defence White Paper community consultation program in 2000 marked an opportunity for external stakeholders to provide suggestions as to how Australia might best manage and use its defence capabilities.1 Capitalising upon this opportunity, undergraduate students from the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre (SDSC) at the Australian National University (ANU) have enthusiastically voiced their recommendations for future Australian defence policy.