June
- Opinion
- China relations
Li’s visit may be as good as it gets for China ties
Dialogue is vital. But the reality for Labor’s “stabilisation” is that the strategic environment will continue to breed black swans and black elephants crises in the Sino-Australian relationship.
- Opinion
- Australia's China challenge
Shangri-La reveals a region short on peace and harmony
The rhetoric at the annual Singapore security conference says that even stabilised relations with China will remain testing for Australian governments.
April
- Opinion
- Australian economy
Why we need a different conversation about national security
In a time of misinformation and cultivated mistrust, talking directly with Australians outside the Canberra security bubble is essential.
January
- Opinion
- Democracy
Why Australia should be celebrating Taiwan’s free elections
Beijing has doubled down on subduing a society that has become a model for democracy in the Chinese-speaking world.
December 2023
- Opinion
- Foreign relations
Australia needs a formal national security strategy
The government has reached a point where it can no longer avoid open discussion of fundamental questions about unpreparedness for strategic trouble ahead.
- Updated
October 2023
- Opinion
- Foreign relations
Australia confronts a world of trouble
Even before Hamas struck, foreign-policy makers have had to get used to a pitiless procession of global shocks.
August 2023
- Opinion
- China relations
Germany offers lessons in managing a relationship with China
Australia and Germany both have economies heavily geared to China. What can they learn from each other on de-risking without drama?
July 2023
- Opinion
- NATO
Albanese is more than a tourist at NATO
Investing seriously in Australia’s diplomacy with Europe is about building coalitions to support a global system that respects our shared interests and values.
June 2023
- Opinion
- China relations
Australia weaves a diplomatic web in Asia
The weekend’s Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore showed a widening ‘minilateral’ security web designed to enmesh the US in partnership, not primacy.
March 2023
- Opinion
- Foreign relations
The AUKUS debate needs clear reasoning, not hot air
There is a vacuum in public awareness of our strategic circumstances. In these times of no war and no peace, that needs to be fixed.
- Opinion
- AUKUS
Australia comes of age as an Indo-Pacific power
A stronger Australia is good for our regional neighbours, but it will take sustained investment in diplomacy to ensure that message sinks home.
February 2023
How Australia can counter China’s Pacific ambitions
The authoritarian giant is pursuing wealth, control and presence across one of the world’s most vulnerable regions, but there are ways to keep it in check.
- Opinion
- China relations
Wong’s colonial history lesson was actually a geopolitical play
A Britain that owns up to its past can help provide the democratic counterweights to China that Australia’s foreign minister is seeking.
December 2022
- Opinion
- Foreign relations
Sensible path to a secure future
In a world of worry, the Australian government needs to demonstrate its seriousness about taking a truly integrated approach to national security.
- Opinion
- Foreign relations
The secrets of Finland’s success
Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s visit to Australia serves as a reminder of how much Canberra can learn from Helsinki on matters from technology and climate action to national security.
August 2022
- Opinion
- Russia-Ukraine war
Australia’s lessons from Taiwan and Ukraine
There is nothing inevitable about the triumph of autocrats. But resistance needs both diplomacy and deterrence – and we don’t have enough of either.
June 2022
- Opinion
- NATO
NATO shares in Australia’s China risk
The historic character of the Madrid summit extends to the Indo-Pacific as the alliance identifies authoritarian China as a clear challenge to Europe’s interests.
- Opinion
- Foreign relations
Labor can’t kick diplomacy goals without the right players
The Albanese government has signalled cultural change in foreign affairs. But the promises must be matched by revitalising the nation’s security and policy capacity.
May 2022
- Opinion
- Foreign relations
Why the next foreign minister will have to hit the ground running
The bipartisanship on foreign policy is just as well. There is not much time to waste on dealing with the regional challenges that Australia now faces.
- Opinion
- Pacific diplomacy
Sogavare’s new Chinese enforcers a test for a fragile democracy
An armed Chinese praetorian guard for Solomon Islands’ prime minister could aggravate instability and discontent, not ease it.