Australia has codified government responsibilities to parliament when going to war. The code is set out in a memorandum issued by the Prime Minister’s Department at the end of November. The conventions cover decisions to …
Articles by: "Graeme Dobell"
Amid tumultuous times, it’s the annual moment to lift the curtain, up the lights and open the envelopes for the 16th Madeleine Award for symbol, stunt, prop, gesture or jest. The Madeleine is a silly-season …
Australia’s new relationship with India has push-pull poles—the pull of the Indian diaspora in Australia and the push that China applies to the Indo-Pacific. The diaspora is the personal dimension that pulls India and Australia together. …
See Donald Trump as a symptom, not a cause. Trump has a massive ego, the appetites of a supreme narcissist and the language of a fascist. But he has a finely tuned popular antenna that …
See the sad, stressed state of the world when Australia’s prime minister goes to a Quad summit in the US but doesn’t bother going to the United Nations. Anthony Albanese went to the Quad last …
The contours of a new and dangerous era are in place. The world has gone from a chilly peace to a new cold war. Cold war 2.0 has rhymes from version 1.0, yet the origin …
The AUKUS quest for nuclear-powered submarines is a thought bubble that turned into a huge project, driven by ambition and beset by anxiety. Canberra’s instant political consensus is a striking element of how quickly the …
The extraordinary arc of failure of Myanmar’s military has gone from coup and crack-down to the brink of regime crack-up. When seizing power in February 2021, the military expected to consolidate power and crush resistance. …
Indo-Pacific alliances and partnerships are a key advantage of the United States in competing with China. Now the United States seeks an economic version of that strategic advantage with a Statement of Principles for Indo-Pacific …
In the ‘differ where we must’ dimension of dealing with China, Australia is wielding a new nomenclature stick. (Schtick?) Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles talks about the ‘West Philippine Sea’, not just …
The annual Singapore sound-off between the defence ministers of China and the US had a little less roar-roar and a fraction more jaw-jaw. A positive from the 21st Shangri-La dialogue on 31 May to 2 …
Beneath the deeply domestic dimensions of any annual budget lies Canberra’s view of the world. The fiscal flashlight of spending and saving (and now subsidising) naturally catches the eye of every Australian taxpayer. Those taxpayers …