Global Issues
Can violent extremist content online be eliminated?
Two years ago, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and France’s President Emmanuel Macron called together governments and tech companies to act to eliminate terrorist and…
Fiji: Cannabis should be high on the government’s agenda
Fiji’s capital Suva has been in and out of Covid lockdowns over recent weeks, and my Netflix got a workout. I watched a TV show called “Cooked with Cannabis”. Admittedly…
Paying the price: Australians want action on climate change
With US President Joe Biden putting climate change at the centre of US foreign policy, Australia is facing increasing pressure from its closest ally to do more. John Kerry, the…
South Korea’s green goals
Last year, South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in launched a climate-change policy branded as a “Green New Deal” as part of a wider stimulus package for the country’s pandemic…
PNG can’t turn a blind eye to the conflict next door
A video recently surfaced on social media in Papua New Guinea, featuring a group of about 20 men, gathered around their apparent leader, declaring war on Indonesia.
“People of…
Why did Australia sign the Moon Treaty?
International space law has again become a theatre of geopolitical competition. Unlike the bipolar space race of the Cold War era, a proliferating cast of countries and…
Violent extremism: The ghost or the machine?
The Australian parliament’s Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security is currently holding an inquiry into extremist movements and radicalism in Australia. It is only the…
Lessons from the recent cyclone in Timor-Leste
The cyclone which hit Timor-Leste on 4 April was traumatising. We were awakened at 3 am by heavy rain and winds gusting at more than 125km/hour. Water began to flood into our…
When border control goes over the line
The failure of the Australian government to return citizens and permanent residents from New Delhi on the first repatriation flight to Darwin since the recent shutdown of air…
Patent waiver for vaccines is a plus, but no panacea
The United States has thrown its support behind demands from developing countries to temporarily waive intellectual property (IP) rights for Covid-19 vaccines. Other rich…