Last month, a long-range ballistic missile burst out of the sea and flew thousands of kilometres into the South Pacific. Their ocean carries the memory of nuclear testing by great powers, and the missile fell within the South Pacific Nuclear-Free Zone. The most immediate threat to Australia is not necessarily a missile falling on an Australian city. For too long, Australian defence has been discussed as though it were mainly a matter of buying platforms overseas: submarines, aircraft, missiles. But defence begins much earlier than that.