In full-page statements in the national media today, 19 Australian security practitioners and former Defence leaders have published an Open Letter on why Australia’s dependence on fossil fuels is a critical economic and security vulnerability.

Published in the _Australian Financial Review_ and the _Sydney Morning Herald_, the letter’s signatories include Admiral Chris Barrie, the former Chief of the Australian Defence Force, Air Vice-Marshal John Blackburn AO, Deputy Chief, Royal Australian Air Force (Retd), Cheryl Durrant, the former Defence Director of Preparedness and Mobilisation, and Brigadier Michael Bond CSC and Bar, Australian Army (Retd).

They say that protecting Australians by accelerating the renewable energy rollout is now a security priority: 

**“**We call on the Australian government to accelerate the transition to clean, domestic energy. Rapidly expanding renewable energy – including wind, solar, batteries, hydro and renewable fuels produced in Australia – and electrifying our transport system with home-grown energy will strengthen Australia’s security, reduce exposure to global energy shocks and help limit the escalating risks driven by climate change.”

**“**We call on the Australian government to accelerate the transition to clean, domestic energy. Rapidly expanding renewable energy – including wind, solar, batteries, hydro and renewable fuels produced in Australia – and electrifying our transport system with home-grown energy will strengthen Australia’s security, reduce exposure to global energy shocks and help limit the escalating risks driven by climate change.”

Major conflicts in Ukraine and in the Middle East – including the Suez crisis, two Arab-Israeli wars, the Iran-Iraq war, the Gulf war of 1991 and the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the USA  – have all caused energy supply and economic shocks. The consequences are rising food prices,........

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