Senate Adjournment
8 September 2026
Twenty-five years ago, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute began with a deceptively simple idea—that Australia’s strategic policy would be better if the thinking behind it was contested, not comfortable. ASPI’s establishment back in 2001 was a genuinely bipartisan undertaking. We saw, a few weeks ago, former prime minister John Howard and former opposition leader Kim Beazley reflect on that founding spirit, writing that ASPI has consistently exerted a positive influence on Australia’s security policy and that spirit above politics and in the national interest has shaped ASPI into what it is today—and it is continuing to grow with much respect.
Over more than two decades, ASPI’s researchers have challenged thinking on border security, on terrorism, on critical minerals and on defence preparedness, and put climate and food security on the national agenda before it was fashionable to do so. That same spirit led to the establishment of ASPI’s Women in Defence and Security Network back in 2014, opening doors and building pathways for women in defence, national security and foreign policy.
I pay tribute to and acknowledge the outgoing executive director, Justin Bassi, who last week advised that he will be leaving the organisation. Under Justin’s leadership, ASPI has built resilience through a period of profound international disruption, from research on artificial intelligence and the Indo-Pacific to convening the Sydney Dialogue on critical technologies. I thank him for his service and, on a personal note, wish him very well for his future with his family. He is someone that I consider a friend and a mentor on these policies on national security and defence.
The strategic environment of 2026 bears little resemblance to that of 2001, and that only makes ASPI’s role more important and more necessary. As ASPI marks 25 years, let the next 25 be defined by the same founding spirit and courage to challenge conventional thinking. I congratulate ASPI on its contribution to Australia’s national security debate and the strategic debate more broadly.
