The new United States–Australia Framework for Securing of Supply in the Mining and Processing of Critical Minerals and Rare Earths is a game-changer for both countries and for producers such as Arafura Resources in the …
The Strategist on: "North of 26° south"
Australia’s northern air bases are vital to national defence, yet improving their resilience remains a work in progress. And the progress is incremental. This isn’t a new task. The 2023 Defence Strategic Review (DSR), putting …
As Defence prepares the 2026 National Defence Strategy, Mungalulu Truscott Airbase should be recognised as a multi-user critical infrastructure asset—a forward node complementing Darwin that enables logistics, personnel dispersal and operational resilience across northern Western …
AUKUS is reshaping the development of HMAS Stirling in Western Australia to facilitate hosting of allied nuclear-powered submarines. Such efforts shouldn’t end there. Certifying facilities in Darwin Harbour for nuclear-powered warships would deliver redundancy, strengthen …
Northern Australia is where national ambition meets national vulnerability. It is the frontline of defence posture, a hub for resource development, and a testing ground for service delivery in some of the most remote communities …
Energy, not algorithms, will decide who leads in artificial intelligence. At the AI Horizons Summit in Pittsburgh last week, the United States’ largest natural gas producer, EQT, made the case bluntly: the real contest is …
Thirty-three years ago, Deng Xiaoping said that ‘The Middle East has oil, but China has rare earths.’ Today, that rings truer than ever. Critical minerals and rare earths are no longer niche commodities; they are …
The wars of the future will be won by those who train together in live, networked and constructive environments that reflect the full complexity of modern conflict. Australia’s training infrastructure has not fully kept pace …
In her 2023 movie Barbie, Greta Gerwig showed how even a world that looks perfect on the surface can fracture when its foundations are exposed. The same truth applies to global supply chains. For all …
‘Everybody wants to rule the world’, sang Tears for Fears, a line later reimagined by Lorde that still resonates today. In northern Australia, everybody wants something: Defence wants resilience; Indigenous communities want opportunity; states want …
Australia’s defence capability will not be constrained by a lack of submarines, satellites or software, but by people. Our most ambitious strategic plans will fall short if we cannot develop the skilled workforce needed to …
Northern Australia’s resilience in the face of crises depends not only on military facilities but on a network of civil infrastructure—ports, liquid-fuel facilities, airfields and logistics hubs that keep people, goods, and equipment moving. Whether …