Thursday Headlines: 

• Iran threatens to stop all trade in the Gulf region 
• Labor set to boost defence spending by $53bn over next decade
• Large fire broken out at one of Australia’s only two remaining oil refineries
• Second school shooting in Türkiye in two days

• A British tourist has paid a LOT of money for a kebab while on holiday in Brazil. 

Deep Dive: The government is unveiling its new defence strategy that places drones and autonomous systems at the forefront of how it prepares for future conflict. Shaped by lessons from Ukraine and the Middle East, the plan signals a major shift away from traditional big-ticket military assets toward cheaper, scalable technologies designed for speed, surveillance, and agility. 

But as the government commits billions to this transformation, questions remain about whether Australia can move fast enough to keep up with the pace of modern warfare, close critical capability gaps, and balance ambitious spending with existing defence priorities. 

In this episode of The Briefing, Helen Smith is joined by retired Major General Mick Ryan, a former Australian Army commander and respected military strategist who has closely studied the war in Ukraine and the future of industrial-age warfare to explain how drones and autonomous systems are changing the way we approach conflicts.  

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