Dibb Report

The Review of Australia's Defence Capabilities, better known as the Dibb Report, was an influential review of Australia's defence plans. While the report's recommendations were not fully accepted by the Hawke Government, they led to significant changes in Australia's defence policy, including adoption of the Defence of Australia Policy.

Background
In February 1985 the Minister for Defence Kim Beazley commissioned Paul Dibb, who was an external consultant and former member of the Department of Defence, to analyse Australia's defence planning and make recommendations for future developments. Dibb's report was published in March 1986 and recommended that Australia abandon the remaining elements of the Forward defence policy and concentrate its military resources on the geographic areas relevant to defending the country and its economic interests from direct attack.

Paul Dibb's recommendations were based around an assessment that "Australia is one of the most secure countries on earth" and that while there was the potential for regional conflict, the longer term intentions and capabilities of countries in Australia's region could not be predicted and as such did not form a suitable basis for planning. Dibb recommended that Australia's military posture be based on a strategy of denying aggressors the ability to attack the country. This was to be achieved through using a layered defence of over-the-horizon radar, patrol aircraft and maritime strike aircraft to protect Australia's approaches with the Army's Operational Deployment Force being responsible for defeating any landings on the Australian mainland. This would require changes to the Australian Defence Force's force structure and equipment acquisition programs. The policy of self-reliance proposed by Dibb also placed less emphasis on Australia's alliance with the United States than previous policies.

Reception
The Dibb Report received a mixed response. Some experts regarded it as being an important contribution to developing an independent Australian defence posture. Other experts criticised the report for calling for an essentially defensive military strategy, implying that existing Australian military capabilities be abandoned and making optimistic assumptions about the period of time which would be available to detect and respond to new threats to Australia. Many of the Dibb Report's assumptions were used in developing the 1987 Defence white paper The Defence of Australia, but the Government did not adopt some of Dibb's key recommendations such as those concerning Australia's relationship with the United States and the Australian military's role in the Pacific.