Foreign Minister Penny Wong conveys Australia’s decision on Friday 10 May to the UN General Assembly on whether Palestine should be admitted as a full member. This, after years of conflict over Palestine between Labor and the Coalition, and disagreement within the ALP, is a definitional moment for Australia. A Palestinian-backed draft resolution seeks to Continue reading »
Australian foreign affairs
Israel’s crimes against humanity, war crimes and its acts of genocide against the Palestinian people are, without a doubt, the most horrific acts committed by a ‘democracy’ since the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War. Yet despite this fact the Australian government refuses to warn or investigate whether any Australian citizens or companies are Continue reading »
Australia is trailing its neighbours in the race to acquire China knowledge and capability, which can only come from in-country experience, writes Louise Edwards. Chinese universities are keen to see more Australian students in their courses and on their campuses. At Beijing’s most important annual political meetings held in March this year, the Director of Continue reading »
The Chinese Foreign Minister, Mr Wang Yi, is in Australia this week to participate in the China-Australia Foreign and Strategic Dialogue with his Australian counterpart, Foreign Minister Penny Wong. This is a good development and very much to be supported. While observing the reporting of this upcoming dialogue from the distance of my office in Continue reading »
The recent ASEAN-Australia Summit in Melbourne was widely well received. Leaders of all member countries, except Myanmar, attended. Some—President Marcos of the Philippines and Prime Minister Anwar of Malaysia—also carried out quite extensive individual programs. Speeches and comments reflected general agreement, and there was an impressive list of follow-up practical actions, many of them with Continue reading »
A recent Essential Poll published in The Guardian proves yet again that silly questions often get silly answers. One of its question was “Which of the following is closest to your view on what Australia’s role should be in global affairs: Primarily an ally of the US An independent middle power with influence in the Continue reading »
One thing is certain about espionage agencies. They are not averse to creating alarm in order to give the impression they are protecting us from threats by ideological fanatics internally or by hostile foreign powers. There is always a kind of self-fulfilling prophesy about their pronouncements and the most recent panic about an unidentified former Continue reading »
A recent poll conducted by The Guardian found that nearly twice as many people agreed with Paul Keating’s suggestion that Australia should be an independent ‘middle power’ in Asia, rather than an ally of the United States. Perhaps the electorate are smarter than some of our political class seem to think. There really is something Continue reading »
The Australian-Filipino strategic partnership is contrived in hypermasculine terms. This has potentially catastrophic consequences for the region and the planet. “We will not yield.” This was what Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. declared as he addressed a joint sitting of the Australian Parliament last week. Marcos vowed that “not one square inch of sovereign Continue reading »
Human rights in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are under increased threat. The PRC government ignores international representations. This begs the question: should Australia even attempt to intervene? What do we risk by doing so? The easy course would be to do the minimum and restrict our representations to cases where Australian citizens and Continue reading »