The development of evidence-based strategies for dealing with illicit drugs has always been challenging for governments. One of the most complicating factors is that a health issue, addiction, has been criminalised to combat those seeking …
Articles by: "John Coyne"
At the time of the review of Australia’s intelligence agencies in 2017, extremism, state and non-state actors, climate change and technological change were all parts of the operating environment, along with rising competition between states. …
In 2017, the Australian Institute of Criminology estimated that the cost of serious and organised crime to Australia in 2016–17 was around $47.4 billion. A more recent estimate isn’t available, but all things being equal, …
While Covid-19 continues to provide moments of awakening, it’s yet to become the catalyst for the paradigm shift expected by many in the back half of 2020. Perhaps this will change with the realisation that …
The Taliban’s rapid return to power in Afghanistan has sent the Western world’s counterterrorism agencies into a tailspin. They’ll be spending a lot of time considering whether the end of the US’s longest war marks …
Australia’s borders and migration system are now the most secure they’ve ever been. With the third wave of Covid-19 now raging in Australia, it seems clear that our international borders will be all but closed …
Last week, with little fanfare, Australia’s last six soldiers departed Kabul on a RAAF aircraft. Australia shut up its intelligence and diplomatic presence in Afghanistan. Incredibly, it’s now been reported that Foreign Affairs Minister Marise …
Darwin Harbour and the port facilities along its eastern arm have a long history of disregard, disrepair and haphazard investment and control by successive governments dating back to the close of World War II. There has …
As the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks approaches, Australians have seen their civil liberties and their community cohesion increasingly securitised and viewed as secondary to the need to prevent violence. Despite our efforts to …
The Defence Department’s decisions on acquiring tanks and the next generation of armoured vehicles are contentious and seem to always generate passionate responses. In 2018, former major general and now senator Jim Molan duked it …
As Australia moves through the stages of recovery from Covid-19, we’re increasingly urged in mainstream and social media to support local, visit local and live local. From Mudgee to Mildura, Batemans Bay to Bundaberg and …
Australia needs an agile surge capacity to provide emergency personnel to respond to disasters, domestically and into our near region. That need will only grow, due to the increasingly frequent and intense weather events we’re …