Regional conflicts are likely to continue.
Australia will need to invest more in its defence forces and be prepared for difficult urban, rather than jungle, confrontations in the future, military experts say. Colonel Michael Goodyer, director of future warfare at Australian Defence Headquarters, told 400 delegates to the Land Warfare Conference in Melbourne yesterday that a proliferation of ruthless and unconventional adversaries could be expected in our region. He cited the militias in East Timor as an example, but added that legitimate governments had come under pressure in other areas, notably Fiji, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. Such trends and movements would continue and perhaps spread, he said. Retired US Marine colonel Randolph Gangle, now a senior adviser at the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory at Quantico, Virginia, backed the assessment.