The national counterterrorism blueprint, Australia’s Counter-Terrorism Strategy, released last week by the Council of Australian Governments, has received little attention. This is surprising given the national terrorism public alert level has been high since last …
Andrew Nikolic, the federal member for Bass and a member of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, recently argued that we should now ‘regenerate the seeds of community interaction, the known wellspring of …
On 15 December last year The Daily Telegraph produced a special lunchtime edition that featured the front-page headline: ‘Death Cult CBD Attack: IS takes 13 hostages in city cafe siege’. The edition generated complaints to …
Australia’s leading academic researcher on public opinion has produced a fascinating study that draws together public surveys of defence and national security attitudes. The report by ANU’s Ian McAllister is part of a public consultation …
In February 2015, President Barack Obama listed climate change alongside international terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, and infectious disease in a new national security strategy. The US National Security Strategy called climate change ‘an urgent …
In a recent oped (PDF) in The Australian I drew attention to China’s distant water fishing fleet; it’s now the world’s largest and is heavily subsidised. China’s rise as a fishing power is linked to …
China’s dredging activities in the South China Sea are significantly disrupting the region’s marine environment. As James Bortley reminds us, ‘the Spratly Islands’ immense biodiversity cannot be overlooked’. In April the Philippine Department of Foreign …
In a piece in last Monday’s Australian we discussed the case of three Australians suspected of fighting with terrorist groups in Syria who are negotiating with the government to leave the war zone and return …
ISIL is having considerable success in employing public social media platforms for recruitment and propaganda. In Australian cases like Jake Bilardi and Mehmet Biber, we’ve seen the social media component playing a role in the radicalisation and recruitment …
The Abbott government wants to accelerate the development of northern Australia. To advance that goal, Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg recently announced a taskforce to explore options for reducing insurance premiums in northern Australia. The taskforce …
Last week I attended a climate change and strategic military geography seminar held at Russell Offices in Canberra on the impact of climate change on Defence. The seminar was convened by the Global Change and Strategic …
In a recent op-ed, I drew attention to the Sea Shepherd’s recent encounter with the toothfish vessel, the Thunder. Economic losses from illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing are estimated to be between US$10 billion …
