The United States and the European Union are both working to reduce their dependence on China for critical minerals, but they’re taking markedly different approaches. As both powers pursue critical-mineral independence through different means, the …
The sinking by submarine attack of the Iranian frigate Dena in the Indian Ocean on 4 March is a blunt reminder that maritime war does not respect the tidy geographic boundaries favoured in policy frameworks. …
The widening conflict involving Iran is causing shipping disruptions that are threatening global fuel supplies. But this is only the latest reminder that economic vulnerability is strategic vulnerability. It reinforces that markets are now arenas …
A regional network open to think tanks and universities from Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea – NATO’s Indo-Pacific (IP4) partner countries – is working to enhance understanding of the common security challenges facing …
When European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen offered Australia a security and defence partnership in early 2025, Canberra barely noticed. That wasn’t surprising. Canberra’s strategic focus had long been anchored in the Indo-Pacific, with …
A flag stopped at a stadium gate can tell you more about geopolitical pressure than many an official communique. At a Women’s Asian Cup soccer match in Sydney this month, Taiwanese supporters say flags and …
Security agencies, like all major organisations, are wrestling with how to integrate AI into their work to boost effectiveness. But they will need to think not just about how to improve the execution of individual …
Unexpectedly, today’s signature weapon is the Iranian Shahed drone now in use in wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. These drones are not just a distant problem. Their range means that, if launched from …
In 2024, China’s united front system tried to love-bomb Taiwanese youth through cross-strait exchanges and outreach programs designed to cultivate goodwill and influence. In 2025, Beijing returned to a more traditional playbook: shaping how Taiwan’s …
If you were a tech giant that had set up data centres in the Middle East because of the cheap fossil-fuel power and permissive regulatory environment, you might now be looking wistfully at Australia. Right …
Gregory Blake’s 2025 book, Into the Valley of Death: the charge of the Light Brigade and the Crimean War, is one of a new ‘Shot of History’ series from Australian publisher Big Sky. It aims, …
Australia’s copyright laws block domestic AI development, leaving its institutions dependent on foreign models that foreign governments can compromise. No Five Eyes partner has a legal framework that supports domestic training of frontier foundation models, …
In London a few weeks ago, taking a break from grim Washington and catching some early spring weather, I met a British defence executive for coffee on the concourse of one of the city’s smaller …
Maintaining a navy without a merchant fleet is a little like maintaining an air force without a commercial aviation industry: one is intended as a fighting force, while the other sustains the system. Australia today …
China is trying to gain more influence in Kiribati but has yet to fully consolidate it. While Australia should seize this very last moment to counter China’s efforts, it should ensure it does so in …
The 2025 senate inquiry into university governance laid out the scale of the problem. Vice-chancellor remuneration has quadrupled in real terms since 1985. Casual and sessional staff now make up 49 percent of the university …
Australia has no legislation and policy designed specifically for AI digital twins—systems that train on an employee’s emails, meetings, documents and chat messages to create an AI-human replica that can answer questions. The technology is …
Canada is quietly strengthening its presence in the Pacific. In a region where relationships are more important than military or economic strength, Canada possesses the latitude to pursue a middle-power strategy distinct from Australia’s. Australia …
Australia produces enough food to feed more than 70 million, yet a single Cabinet decision in an unrelated portfolio can quietly undermine that strength. Federal decision-making processes don’t systematically test how new policies affect the …
The US–Israeli military campaign against Iran is unlikely to extinguish the sparks of the regime’s nuclear program, one of the world’s top arms control experts says. This raises the prospect that diplomacy and deterrence will …