The 2022 Grey Oration, delivered by Professor Beatrice Heuser, explored the enduring and evolving nature of war. Drawing on historical and contemporary examples, she demonstrated how certain drivers of conflict—such as resource competition, ideology, and political structures—remain constant across millennia, while the forms and technologies of warfare shift in unpredictable and non-linear ways. From tribal struggles to cyber operations, from private wars to state-centric definitions of conflict, she highlighted how the causes, conduct, and justifications of war are both timeless and ever-changing.

Professor Heuser also examined the implications of these dynamics for the modern profession of arms. She urged Defence leaders and practitioners to think beyond linear trends, acknowledging the role of new technologies, non-state actors, and shifting legal norms in shaping future battlefields. By balancing recognition of enduring patterns with openness to radical transformation, her address encouraged students and alumni of the Australian Defence College to rethink assumptions about warfare and remain intellectually prepared for challenges that may defy precedent.