At last we have the Turnbull government’s naval shipbuilding plan. It claims to be the first such plan, yet the Howard government released one in 2003 and we had a de facto one from the …
Articles by: "Mark Thomson"
In March 2017, the Minister for Defence Industry told ABC radio that ‘We know the defence industry is driving the economy.’ He backed up that claim by referring to the just-released National Accounts for the …
Long story short: the government continues to deliver the funding promised in its 2016 Defence White Paper. Next financial year, the Defence budget will grow by over 6% in real terms, to reach $34.7 billion—equivalent …
As is my habit when preparing for the Federal Budget, I’ve been going through public polling on attitudes to defence spending and other issues. Here’s a quick summary of what I found. The importance that …
If Hawaiian-born Obama had done it, people would have said he had kahunas. But we’re talking about New York native Donald Trump, so the word is chutzpa. According to Fox News, Trump handed German Chancellor …
It’s tempting to dismiss Trump’s election as a bizarre aberration of the digital age—a triumph of celebrity over reason. But it’s also clear that Trump succeeded because he appealed to voters on issues long ignored …
We were in Washington recently for the latest annual track-2 ‘Quad Plus’ dialogue. The meeting brings together participants from think tanks in Australia, India, Japan and the United States, as well as invited “plus” nations—this …
We were in Washington recently. Like much of the rest of the world, the town is trying to understand the new US administration. Surprisingly, some of the Washington establishment isn’t overly alarmed. We can’t rule …
The government’s decision to pursue multi-decade domestic ship and submarine building programs sits oddly with decades of economic reform. Successive governments have striven to maintain competition in the Australian economy, and for good reason. …
Donald J. Trump is president-elect of the United States. What are the consequences for Australia? Following a 15 minute phone call with Mr Trump, Prime Minister Turnbull moved to reassure a shell-shocked public that it’s …
Australia and New Zealand see the world and respond to it differently. That’s not to say there aren’t areas of agreement—free trade, democracy, human rights—but when it comes to defence and foreign policy, there are …
Yesterday the Australian government (with the PM and three cabinet ministers in attendance) announced that it’s going to split ASC into three separate but still government-owned companies, to ‘support the key capabilities of shipbuilding, submarine …