Australia

Book review: Common enemies: crime, policy and politics in Australia–Indonesia relations, by Michael McKenzie (Oxford University Press, 2018) Next month marks the 17th…

Economic diplomacy: Tourism power, defining China, and Vietnam jackpot

Paying the piper Last Thursday as Australia’s Foreign Minister Marise Payne was talking up the role of values in foreign policy to a business audience in Canberra, Indonesia was…

Remembering Timor – a soldier’s view

Twenty years ago, several hundred soldiers from the 3RAR Parachute Battalion Group, including me, flew from our base in Holsworthy to Darwin. We had a brief training session with…

Trump, Morrison, the media, and hearing what you want to hear

Should journalists really be trying to impose an order on Trump’s thinking, when he himself displays none? One of my favourite old sayings is, “You don’t ask the fish to describe…

National identity cannot be separated from the climate of the times

Democracy is in trouble. Far from sweeping all before it in an unstoppable historical wave, confidence in democratically elected politicians is collapsing among the young, and…

Syria: Is it time for the West to talk with Assad?

Syria is one among several Middle East regimes which believe that repression, if not used in moderation, provides a necessary answer to challenges to the existing political and…

A White House dinner for two: A tell-tale of tweets and transcripts

TrumpHave you seen my tweet?MorrisonIt was brought to my attention … and then … honestly, this is what we call it the Canberra bubble. It’s ridiculous. It’ll be sorted out…

Korea-Japan tensions, as seen in the suburbs of Brisbane

On the weekend of 24–25 August, the Brisbane City Council painted over a freshly-completed mural of a Korean statue on a traffic signal box. The mural had been approved…

Gladys Liu and the pitfalls of cultural anxiety

This country’s diverse Chinese-Australian communities are hurting. From conversations with friends, I gather they feel burdened by an obligation to show loyalty to Australia that…

Bolton sacking means Morrison will visit a White House again in chaos

Scott Morrison said it himself, only last week. “I mean he’s a very different President to previous Presidents.” And in another timely reminder ahead of the Australian Prime…