Last week, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced an increase of 18,500 to the Department of Defence’s full-time workforce by 2040. I’ll spare you the (semi-)snarky commentary about (semi-)announcements this time and get straight to unpacking …
Though it’s 5,240 kilometres from the hostilities, India is feeling the political heat from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s indefensible invasion of Ukraine. New Delhi is clearly unsettled as it treads a line between Russia and …
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese began his Lowy Institute speech last Thursday referring to Prime Minister John Curtin’s 1941 declaration that Australia ‘looked to America’ in our moment of deepest strategic danger. In 2022 we have …
In a speech earlier this week, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that Brisbane, Newcastle and Port Kembla are the three possible sites for a new east coast base for Australia’s nuclear submarines under the AUKUS partnership. Why …
One of my colleagues told me on Monday morning that we were going to get a ‘semi-announcement’ on Australia’s submarine basing that day. The government has been making quite a lot of semi-announcements lately about …
No one who has observed Indonesian foreign and strategic policy probably needs reminding of how differently Jakarta sees and engages with the world to the way Australia does. But in responding to Russian President Vladimir …
To meet the challenges of expanding high-end military capabilities in the region and the need to significantly increase the Australian Defence Force’s deterrent capabilities, the Australian government should up-end one of the traditional ways it …
Let’s hope the Quad and AUKUS get boring. It’s rare in the politics of diplomacy to have no new ‘announceables’ or major initiatives from key meetings like the Quad involving Indian, Japanese, American and Australian …
Why has Russia’s President Vladimir Putin become so aggressive in his attitude to the US, NATO and Ukraine? In this article, I begin by examining the disintegration of the former Soviet Union and how it …
For the moment, Defence Minister Peter Dutton has decided to stick with the troubled Hunter-class frigate program. With his usual candour, he told The Australian last week: ‘We looked very carefully at this project and …
The 2020s have begun a period of rapid change for Australian defence planners. The government’s 2020 defence strategic update and accompanying force structure plan refocused strategic and operational priorities to the Indo-Pacific. They highlighted the …
This week ASPI released Agenda for change 2022: shaping a different future for our nation to promote public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to Australia. The key message in Agenda for change …