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Extract of David Rowe cartoon used in his Twitter masthead

25 April 2023

The latest Defence Strategic Review, released to the public in April 2023, was unusually candid. It identified the Australian Defence Force as being ‘not fit for purpose’, in the face of China’s growing military capabilities. Behind David Rowe’s poker-playing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stand Pat Conroy Minister for Defence Industry), Jim Chalmers (Treasurer and Deputy Prime Minister) and Richard Marles (Minister for Defence). They face down a heavily armed and confident Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Across a table from President Xi, flanked with a wall of large missiles, four men sit with a handful of small missiles, and one of them, Anthony Albanese, says 'And there's more where that came from... right Jimbo?'