Future Frigates—not so fast!

The rumour du jour in defence circles this week is that the planned date for beginning work on the future frigate program has been slipped a couple years, out to 2022. That’s despite a robust …

The Coral Sea, 1942: a nation-saving battle

The Battle of the Coral Sea isn’t as iconic in our national consciousness as Gallipoli, Kokoda, or even El Alamein, Villers-Bretonneux, Amiens or Beersheba. Those battles and others in the two world wars played into …

Combating piracy in the Sulu-Celebes Sea

Despite a surge in kidnapping of seamen from vessels in the Sulu-Celebes Sea, joint counter piracy patrols planned by the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia have been postponed indefinitely. A planned signing ceremony by the three …

Exporting North Korea’s nukes

The United States has announced that it’s reserving the option of military force to prevent North Korea acquiring the means to deliver a nuclear warhead using a long range ballistic missile. It’s time to check …

Asia’s American menace

US President Donald Trump’s approach to foreign policy—based on tactics and transactions, rather than strategic vision—has produced a series of dazzling flip-flops. Lacking any guiding convictions, much less clear priorities, Trump has confounded America’s allies …

Is it time for an Australian In-Q-Tel?

Glen Rabie, the CEO of Australian technology start-up Yellowfin, wrote an op-ed in the Australian Financial Review a couple weeks ago that caught my attention. Decrying the ‘disconnect’ between the Australian Government’s rhetoric around promoting …

A matter of dignity

Three months ago, the American President insulted the Australian Prime Minister. In the now infamous telephone call, the Prime Minister might’ve managed the asylum seekers issue more nimbly. But he didn’t deserve what was dished …

Fintel Alliance: fighting financial crime and terror funding

Justice Minister Michael Keenan recently launched the Fintel Alliance, a public-private partnership combating money laundering and terrorism financing. The partnership is unique internationally, bringing together 19 public and private sector organisations to counter these dual threats. …

ASPI suggests

While the ‘first 100 days’ are an unreliable indicator of what’s to come, it’s certainly a good opportunity to reflect on the period where a new leader is at their most powerful, which is exactly …

CRISPR: we can, but should we?

If you study or work in the biosciences, chances are that ‘CRISPR’ has been on your mind for the past five years. That’s Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. Or, in plain-speak: the easiest, cheapest …

China, the UN and the rules-based global order

Later today US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will preside over a ministerial-level meeting of the UN Security Council on North Korea. Most observers will closely focus on Tillerson’s remarks, yet there’s no doubt that …

Trump’s diplomatic deficit

Connecting the strategic dots between Afghanistan, Syria, and North Korea has become an unavoidable task. Only by doing so can the world begin to discern something resembling a coherent, if misguided, approach to US foreign …