A clear-eyed examination of how Australia should approach the complex security challenges at play in its maritime domain

Security starts at home ...

Australia has drawn closer to many of its Asia-Pacific neighbours in recent years, but when push comes to shove, it continues to look well beyond the oceans and regions that surround it to the distant horizons of Europe and North America for its ultimate security guarantee.

In Girt by Sea, international-relations experts Rebecca Strating and Joanne Wallis instead turn their gazes to Australia's near region, focusing on the six maritime domains central to its national interests: the north seas (the Timor, Arafura and Coral Seas and the Torres Strait), the Western Pacific, the South China Sea, the South Pacific, the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean.

In so doing, they reimagine how Australia should understand its strategic challenges and find lasting security.