On 19 June, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, in concert with Defence Minister Linda Reynolds, announced: ‘Australian organisations are currently being targeted by a sophisticated state-based cyber actor.’ This was occurring ‘across a range of sectors, …
The beat Victoria Police stop using controversial facial recognition technology Victoria Police has confirmed that it is no longer using facial recognition services offered by Clearview AI. Documents released under a freedom of information request …
Like the leading character in a long-running television series, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un kicked off the latest crisis on the Korean peninsula with familiar theatrics. After cutting off all communications with South Korea earlier …
Australia’s official unemployment rate hit 7.1 % in May, our highest since 2001. It’s almost inevitable that as the federal government eases its Covid-19-related stimulus measures, like the JobKeeper payment, the figure will rise further. …
On 29 May, against the backdrop of a Black Lives Matter protest, a gunman opened fire on Federal Protective Service officers outside a courthouse in Oakland, California, killing one and badly wounding another. He fired …
As a former naval officer and current student of maritime affairs, I have long been infuriated by the blanket use of the term ‘non-traditional’ to describe security threats external to those directly generated by the …
Papua New Guinea’s legal system, especially its supreme and national courts, is a true success story. The PNG judiciary is competent, is unaffected by political influence, and resolutely upholds the constitution and the fairness of …
In my previous post, I discussed the militarisation of American policing and its adverse effects during the recent protests. Militarisation, coupled with a perceived lack of police leadership, accountability and trustworthiness, presents a worrying future …
For Australia, China looms large, but the reverse is not necessarily true. The Chinese Communist Party has many pressing issues domestically in managing 1.3 billion people and the world’s second largest economy, and internationally with …
Sea state The Royal Australian Navy has sent three warships from Fleet Base East, and four from Fleet Base West, to undertake exercises off northern and eastern Australia. HMA Ships Anzac, Arunta, Ballarat and Sirius …
As the rivalry between the United States and China spirals into a new cold war, it carries the potential to widen and deepen many geopolitical fault lines in world politics. One such fault line is …
I noted in the previous post in this series that planned increases to the Defence Department budget are concentrated in its capital investment program, which rises to nearly 40% of the total budget. Since the …
In a stunning dismissal of the value of inter-Korean diplomacy, Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, ordered the destruction of the joint liaison office in Kaesong near the border with South …
This article is part of ASPI’s 2020 series on women, peace and security. The advancement of women’s rights and gender equality through the United Nations is under threat. Last year, the 63rd session of the …
No country has been spared the impact of Covid-19. But some—the world’s most ‘fragile states’—face a particularly difficult set of challenges. Before the pandemic arrived, Yemen, Sudan, Haiti, Sierra Leone, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Venezuela and other …
‘Covid-19 is a shared crisis—a reminder that many problems are best solved or, indeed, can only be solved through cooperation. At the heart of successful international cooperation is the concept that each country shares, rather …
In this episode, ASPI’s Kelsey Munro speaks to James Leibold and Emile Dirks, authors of Genomic surveillance: inside China’s DNA dragnet, about China’s national campaign of compulsory DNA collection. They discuss how multinational and major …
Russia has published an official executive order (ukaz) titled ‘Basic principles of state policy of the Russian Federation on nuclear deterrence’. It entered into force on 2 June when it was signed by President Vladimir …
The total loss of innocence in Australia’s bilateral relationship with China over the past few months reminds me of a scene in the classic 1986 coming-of-age film Stand by Me. When asked around the campfire …
Perhaps with unintentional irony, US President Donald Trump said in a recent national address that America ‘needs creation, not destruction; cooperation, not contempt; security, not anarchy; healing, not hatred; justice, not chaos’. In any community, …
