In its response to AUKUS with its objective of militarily confronting China in the South China Sea, we should not be surprised by Chinese naval vessels sailing around Australia to pick up some intelligence or at least showing us their growing naval power. For China, it would be a good training experience in new waters. Continue reading »
Australian foreign policy
While questioning Penny Wong, Michaelia Cash advises the LNP under Peter Dutton will reject international law and the arrest of Netanyahu should he come to Australia. Penny Wong reminds her of the previous government’s hate speech. In the UN, Noa Argamani describes the moment when the building she was in collapsed under Israeli bombardment, while Continue reading »
As a quick study in the psychology of Australia-US relations, last week had it all. There was the sound of cash registers ringing in Washington as Canberra handed over the first cheque for the US nuclear submarine production base. There was the self-aggrandisement of Richard Marles at the Pentagon, chuffed at being the first defence Continue reading »
I am not suffering from what some of President Donald Trump’s more fervent supporters — both in the US and in Australia — like to call “Trump derangement syndrome”. That is, I’m not disputing that he won the presidential election held last November “fair and square”, as did the Republican Party in both the House Continue reading »
February 7 saw the first AUKUS meeting held between officials of the Trump administration and their Australian servitors since the changing of the guard in the White House. In attendance was the US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and his unbearably compliant Australian counterpart Richard Marles. From all general appearances, the sense was that a change Continue reading »
Never has there been a greater need for Australia to turn away from its military alliance with the United States and forge an independent and peaceful foreign policy. This would necessarily mean an alternative self-reliant defence policy and the forging of friendly and mutually beneficial relations with the fraternity of non-aligned/neutral nations. Even before the Continue reading »
In the period since 7 October 2023, serious questions have arisen as to whether the Australian Government is properly discharging its obligations under international law in light of Israel’s devastation of Gaza, invasion of Lebanon and the escalation of settler violence in the illegally occupied West Bank. In November 2024, Senators Lidia Thorpe and Fatima Continue reading »
The foundation of Australia’s alliance with the US is that there is a shared commitment to the rule of law and constitutional democratic government. We are faced with the choice of waiting until there cannot be a shred of doubt that the US is committed to a dictatorship or beginning the process of cutting our Continue reading »
The deliberate extermination of a large population group or nation, aiming to eradicate their future, is genocide. According to the International Court of Justice, Israel’s war amounted to genocide resulting in the deaths of 48,156 Palestinians including 17,841 children. Both major parties have supported Israel’s war and the supply of intelligence and arms. It’s time Continue reading »
For more than 40 years Hugh White has been an important analyst of Australian defence and foreign policy. After working in the Office of National Assessments he became an adviser to Defence Minister Beazley and Prime Minister Hawke, He was a deputy secretary in the Department of Defence and the first head of the Australian Continue reading »