All prime ministers and presidents frequently tell us that national security is the top priority for government, but does the public see it the same way. And does that matter? When people think of national …
Articles by: "Justin Bassi"
In Canberra, it’s called taking out the trash. Late on Friday, 27 June, the Department of Defence quietly issued a media release with news it must have hoped would get little media attention: it had …
Canada has just made a great step forward in minimising the security risk from China. Now Australia should step forward and propose to work with Canada to create international, harmonised arrangements to protect critical infrastructure. …
Jim Chalmers is enforcing national sovereignty and defying risk of economic intimidation. The treasurer has taken court action to force a China-linked entity to divest from a key rare-earths miner. This is a matter of …
Never mind that the Quad partners have their differences. The meeting of their foreign ministers in Washington on 1 July should be an occasion for the grouping of Australia, India, Japan and the United States …
German shipbuilder TKMS has significantly increased its chances in Canberra’s frigate competition by partnering with Saab, an entrenched supplier of crucial equipment for Australian warships. This challenges widespread assumptions that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) is …
Australia faces a perilous strategic environment with multiple threats overlapping and, in some cases, converging. We are confronted simultaneously by the rise of aggressive authoritarian powers, multiple conflicts around the world, persistent and evolving terrorism, …
Alongside Monday’s cabinet reshuffle, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese returned responsibility for the Australian Federal Police and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation to the Home Affairs portfolio. ASPI executive director Justin Bassi outlined reasons for such a …
In early April, Victorian Supreme Court Justice James Elliot ruled that Abdul Nacer Benbrika—Australia’s most notorious terrorist and the architect of a planned mass-casualty attack on the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 2005—continued to pose an …
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI released Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report developed for the next government and to promote public debate and understanding …
We need more than two Australians who are well-known in Washington. We do have two who are remarkably well-known, but they alone aren’t enough in a political scene that’s increasingly influenced by personal connections and …
When the US Navy’s Great White Fleet sailed into Sydney Harbour in 1908, it was an unmistakeable signal of imperial might, a flexing of America’s newfound naval muscle. More than a century later, the Chinese …