Thank goodness we have an army of bureaucrats with economics and arts degrees informing our defence policy as we line up to sell the national farm to afford our $368bn defence bill. (Our nuclear family ties, 15/3). After an interesting range of defence “white papers” over the years, I obviously miscalculated the strategy, believing that having many countries already owning large swathes of our continent meant that any attack on us would see others rushing to our aid to defend their interests here. Foreign ownership was a de facto defence policy in disguise. Focusing on a potential “China challenge” of the future, we are surely aiding and abetting our phantom adversary by providing the most valuable resource to any war machine – iron ore. Selling China $368bn worth of iron ore to fund our defence budget somehow rings hollow in the IQ stakes. What a shame the same bureaucrats don’t have a plan to defend us from the enemy within, who are depriving us of the safety and security of reliable electrical power, cheap transport and secure food and medical supplies. Alan Sexton, North Parramatta 16Mar2023.