Global Issues
Why not try? What a Papua New Guinean team could bring to the NRL
At present, Port Moresby’s sports fields are silent. The Covid-19 pandemic has temporarily halted what would ordinarily be a gathering in the Papua New Guinea capital of deafening…
Reports
The impact of natural disasters on violent extremism
Originally published in the ASPI Counterterrorism Yearbook 2021.
Washington risks an unsustainable climate policy
A couple of months after the inauguration of the new Biden administration, the 18 March Alaska summit provided the first big test of US-China relations. While most of the talks…
America’s border crisis: Good intentions go south
Spare a thought for US Vice President Kamala Harris, just given carriage for the public-policy problem from hell: leading the White House response to a surge in migrants seeking…
Taking the measure of prejudice in a pandemic
Earlier this month, the Lowy Institute released Being Chinese in Australia, one of the largest surveys of the Chinese Australian community. Around the same time, the Scanlon…
Commentary
Coronavirus: PNG is on the precipice and it needs an urgent intervention
Originally published in The Australian.
Facebook’s monopoly danger in the Pacific
The recent stoush between the Australian government and social media giant Facebook, with its eight-day-long ban of local news from its platform, had results that were not…
Economic diplomacy: Deploying soft power and the future of trade
Power vacuum
Prime Minister Scott Morrison was swift to claim former finance minister Mathias Cormann’s selection as Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)…
Afghanistan: When a song is not just a song
A recent ban on girls’ public singing has demonstrated the continuing struggle between modernising and conservative forces in Afghanistan. Speculation on social media suggested it…
Female genital mutilation is still a risk – especially in a pandemic
One of the many consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic is that other critical heath issues have fallen off the agenda in Australia and globally – including female genital…