The 2026 National Defence Strategy and Continued Interest in a Rules-Based Global Order

The concept of the Rules-based Global Order (RBGO) first appeared in the 2009 Defence White Paper. Since

then, the idea of the RBGO has provided a strategic foundation for Australia’s major strategic documents. The

2016 Defence White Paper went so far as to declare it “essential for Australia’s security and prosperity”.

Defending the RBGO is included in all of Australia’s recent key strategic defense documents, including the

2023 Defence Strategic Review, and the 2024 and 2026 National Defence Strategies. Defence Minister

Richard Marles defended the concept of the RBGO during his press club introduction of the 2026 National

Defence Strategy.

At the same time, recent assessments have argued that our latest defence strategy signals Australia’s shift

towards a more realist approach to our place in the world. Another possibility, however, could be that

Australia is redefining what it understands the rules-based order to entail, moving away from the idea of a

US-led liberal international order to a less ambitious idea of the RBGO that better reflects the needs of the

Indo-Pacific. This new order, if properly supported, could see the sustainment of some key international

laws, rules and norms, despite the lack of a liberal underpinning. It also has the potential to provide

protection for small and middle powers in a world that increasingly seems open to great power influence.