I had come to believe that, post Vietnam, I would never see another serious military incident or war in our region in my lifetime. How wrong could I be.

Not only is the probability now mounting at an alarming pace, with Donald Trump and tensions over North Korea and the South China Sea, but I fear that we, as a nation, are being caught in the headlights.

We are being sucked along as these probabilities mount and unfold, without a clear sense of our national interest, and without a clear strategy as to how we should be positioning ourselves to respond.

The Turnbull government obviously didn't expect Trump to win. It didn't even have a phone number at the ready to congratulate him. Then, there was the infamous Trump/Turnbull phone call, again caught off guard. Quite frankly, the government, like most others has been left to fear the worst, as it waits to see just how Trump will transition from his campaign rhetoric to action. But, at best, it is playing catch-up.