Debate: "General"
Joko Widodo’s cabinet shake-up

With Indonesia’s annual growth rate now heading below 5%, President Joko Widodo’s cabinet reshuffle may have been mainly designed to revitalise the country’s flagging economy. But the political changes and what lay behind them also …

Australia’s Indo–Pacific understanding

Australia is re-embracing the Indo–Pacific as the defining geographic expression of defence strategy. The Indo–Pacific was the big new theme of Labor’s 2013 Defence White Paper, and it’ll have the same status in the Coalition’s …

ASPI suggests

Stuck without a good read for over the weekend? Look no further than this week’s ASPI suggests, brought to you all the way from balmy Canberra. The Iran Deal is certainly the flavour of the month. Bound …

Beyond 2017: Army’s amphibious destiny

There is little to argue with in Beyond 2017: The Australian Defence Force and Amphibious Warfare by Ken Gleiman and Peter J Dean. It’s soundly thought out, well written, and concludes with a number of …

Recutting our perspective of border security

Australia’s public policy debate on irregular migration and border security has become bogged down in a polarised ideological war characterised by poisonous politics. This ideological war has done little to innovate border security migration policies …

Politics, public policy and political advisors

The plethora of commentary on parliamentarians’ entitlements has pointed to systemic failure (a lack of clear guidance and rules) as a more fundamental cause of the problem than simple venality and carelessness on the part …