After the federal elections of 2022 and 2025, a certain supposed truth is taking root in Australian political discourse—namely, that discussion of potential conflict involving China is politically disadvantageous, because it is likely to have …
Articles by: "Michael Pezzullo"
There’s a way for Australia to strengthen its case for the US presidential certification it will need for acquiring Virginia-class submarines. It should do so by accelerating construction of a planned shipyard in Western Australia …
On 14 May 1986, Paul Keating gave one of the most consequential political interviews in Australian history. He was interviewed by John Laws of 2UE, in the pre-internet era when talkback radio was dominant, and …
On 25 April 2021, I published an internal all-staff Anzac Day message. I did so as the Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs, which is responsible for Australia’s civil defence, and its resilience in …
The world is trying to make sense of the Trump tariffs. Is there a grand design and strategy, or is it all instinct and improvisation? But much more important is the question of what will …
Prime minister Kevin Rudd released the 2009 defence white paper in May of that year. It is today remembered mostly for what it said about the strategic implications of China’s rise; its plan to double …
Beijing deployed a naval task group to the waters around Australia for three related reasons. First, to demonstrate the reach and potency of Chinese sea power and to put Australia on notice that it is …
The United States is a secure power. Situated in a hemispheric citadel, and protected by wide oceans, the US could comfortably withdraw from being the arbiter of the geopolitical fate of Eurasia and still enjoy …
In the next six months there is a greater than 50 per cent chance of a terrorist attack being planned and possibly carried out in Australia. The Director-General of Security told us so on August …
The Founding of Australia 1788 was painted in 1937 by Algernon Talmage. It was commissioned for the sesquicentenary celebrations of 1938. The painting depicts the moment that Captain Arthur Phillip proposed a toast to George …
Ernest Hemingway wrote in The Sun Also Rises (1926) that bankruptcy occurs gradually and then suddenly. This should be treated as a rule of geopolitical affairs. For centuries, political structures and hierarchies of power that …
On this day 27 December in 1941, John Curtin famously declared that in the war with Imperial Japan, Australia would look to the United States, ‘free of any pangs as to our traditional links or …