Gordon Campbell: On Marketing The Military Threat Posed By China

Gosh, we had to wait years for this flimsy Defence Capability Plan (DCP)? What the public got given earlier this week was a 25 page document filled with back-of-the-envelope costings meant to justify a gigantic $12 billion spending spree of public money over the next four years. Incredibly, the price range for the majority of the “indicative” costings in the categories listed were framed in “It could cost this, but it could also cost two or three times as much” terms. Or, for variation, it could cost “up to $50 million” to get this, and it could cost “$2 billion plus” to get that.