Australia needs to invest more heavily in defence and national security, yet the government is struggling to match rhetoric with reality in the May federal budget. The budget showed that Australia is pushing back the …
India and Japan have just concluded their 2+2 ministerial dialogue. On the one hand, the talks demonstrated significant progress in the relationship over the past few years—a positive trend from Australia’s point of view. On …
Since 2014, Russia has brazenly violated Ukraine’s territorial integrity with incursions, illegal annexations and a full-scale invasion. And now Ukraine is violating Russia’s territorial integrity with its own incursion into the Kursk region. There is, …
At face value, the impending resignation of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida next month might worry Australian policy pundits who favour continuity. But a new leader, set to be elected on 27 September, may be …
BAE Systems and its Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) partners pulled off a coup of technology theatre at the Farnborough air show in July, unveiling a new design for their GCAP figher, in full-scale model …
HMAS Sydney, one of Australia’s three Hobart-class air warfare destroyers this month became the first Australian warship to test fire Raytheon’s RIM-174A SM-6 missile, during Exercise Pacific Dragon off Hawaii. This followed hot on the …
There’s a global arms race under way to work out how best to use artificial intelligence for military purposes. The Gaza and Ukraine wars are now accelerating this. These conflicts might inform Australia and others …
NATO and its four Indo-Pacific partners should cooperate and coordinate to ease a munitions shortage by increasing production of basic supplies, such as artillery shells, and further easing rules that restrict trade in more sophisticated …
Henry Kissinger made his name in the 1950s as a scholar of ‘statesmen’, always using the masculine noun. He was especially interested in the intellectual ‘conceptions’ that guide the actions of statesmen, and how they have …
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has made unprecedented financial and representative commitments to the Northern Territory, including the recent appointment of member of federal parliament Luke Gosling as special envoy for Northern Australia. This signals a …
France’s underappreciated air presence in the Indo-Pacific underscores its long-term commitment to regional partnerships, especially with Australia. It improves regional security and offers an opportunity for more cooperation with Australia. Few people in the Indo-Pacific, …
As regional tensions escalate threats to civilians across the Middle East, our leaders need to take concrete steps to prevent further civilian harm. Those steps should include an immediate embargo on arms and arms components …
Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 US presidential race remains one of the biggest stories of the year. Criticised for his June debate performance and showing clear signs of aging, the 81-year-old president finally acknowledged …
On 8 August, UN member states agreed to what was once deemed implausible: a universal cybercrime convention. A Russia-led effort to challenge existing Euro-centric standards for law enforcement cooperation turned into an agreement that preserves …
The New Zealand-US component of ANZUS was suspended in the 1980s because Wellington refused to admit American Navy vessels that were nuclear-powered, or that might be carrying nuclear weapons, into its ports. Buried in paragraph …
Unlike in the Cold War, the United States faces the prospect in the next decade of two peer nuclear adversaries, which will together have twice as many strategic nuclear weapons as it does. According to …
The year of elections was also feared to be the year that deepfakes would be weaponised to manipulate election results or undermine trust in democracy. The record-breaking 2024 figure of about 4 billion voters eligible …
Picture a globe turned upside down so you see Antarctica at the top of the world. The continent’s immense strategic value is striking. Global resource pressures, coupled with advances in technology, continue to generate a …
Which cabinet minister has responsibility for counter-terrorism in Australia? Our national security dictates that it shouldn’t be a difficult question given, to misquote Mark Twain, reports of terrorism’s demise have been revealed as exaggerated. In …
Last week, the Select Committee on Australia’s Disaster Resilience released its long-awaited report, Boots on the ground: raising resilience. It’s an excellent summary of input from across the disaster-response community in Australia and makes many …