The gravest duty of a government is not to balance the books. It is to protect its people. But in an era of more challenging and complex threats, our greatest foe could be poor planning. How can Australia avoid falling hostage to ad-hoc decisions, wasteful spending, bureaucratic inertia and fitful planning? Game Plan argues for a new Grand Strategy - a blueprint to deter the next war, and, if forced to fight, to win. Ross Babbage is a senior defence analyst and the head of Strategy International.