In this time of Covid-19, Australia marks Anzac Day without dawn services and marches. Instead, a private ceremony will be broadcast from the Australian War Memorial. It’s another change in a unique Australian commemoration that’s …
Articles by: "Graeme Dobell"
Cyclone Harold crashed through the South Pacific. Covid-19 creeps towards the islands. Pandemic and cyclone should sharpen Australia’s thinking about what it can and must do in the South Pacific. My single most important suggestion: …
Southeast Asia is a wondrous experiment in comparative politics. Perhaps a galactic professor peers down, testing a spectrum of political systems, from the Malay Muslim monarchy of Brunei to the world’s largest Muslim democracy in …
Just as all politics is local, so Canberra is ever about politics (it’s the whole reason the place was built). Pandemic has smashed into Australia’s capital, remaking the dynamic and direction of politics. Normal politics …
Rank the threats, risks and challenges the South Pacific faces. What’s most significant? What matters most in the lives of islanders? Putting things in order of importance appeals to the orderly minds of public servants …
Merge a couple of fairy tales for some judgement lines on Australia’s Pacific step-up. Canberra likes to think of itself as the handsome prince. The Pacific islands, though, can perceive a sleeping beauty or a …
Australia is doing a lot of thinking about what steps to take in the South Pacific. How high does the ‘Pacific step-up’ have to go? How many different steps? Step style? Step hierarchy? How to …
‘A path can be charted between conflict and capitulation. The future is not solely in the hands of an authoritarian China or an unpredictable, self-centred America. In the end, the Indo-Pacific is both a region …
The Indo-Pacific is an idea with a crucial purpose: avoid war. It’s a lot to ask of a geographic construct that barely existed a decade ago. ‘Indo-Pacific’ has shifted from a way to look at …
Australia always frets about the US alliance. Today, fret is becoming frenetic. Even a touch feverish. Fear darkens the fancies. Donald Trump could do to US alliances what he’s done to US trade policy. The …
‘Indonesia and Australia are destined to be close neighbours. We cannot choose our neighbours. We have to choose to be friends. Australia is Indonesia’s closest friend.’ — Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Address to the Australian …
Kim Beazley and Paul Dibb are two tenors of Oz strategy. Each has a distinctive voice. Combine those voices and the power magnifies. Over four decades, the two tenors have shifted the terms and the …