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Peter JenningsContributor

Peter Jennings is director of Strategic Analysis Australia and an adjunct fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs. He was executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute from 2012 to 2022. He is a former deputy secretary for strategy in the Defence Department (2009-12) and was a senior adviser for strategic policy to Prime Minister John Howard (2002-03) and chief of staff to Defence Minister Ian McLachlan (1996-98).

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Israeli soldiers carry the flag-draped coffin of slain hostage Col. Asaf Hamami, who was abducted by Hamas militants on Oct. 7, 2023, during his funeral at Kiryat Shaul military cemetery, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

In Israel, Australia’s betrayal is evident everywhere you go

We didn’t expect that every Israeli we met – private citizens, cab drivers, restaurant staff and shopkeepers – all knew the Albanese government had put Israel into the deep freeze.

Peter Jennings and Anthony Bergin

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FILE - President Donald Trump poses for a photo with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before he boards Air Force One at Ben Gurion International Airport, Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, near Tel Aviv, as Israel's President Isaac Herzog watches at left. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

The ten steps to turn Trump’s Gaza gamble into peace

The US president must deliver confidence and momentum and work intensely hard to bring the Middle East and the wider international community along with him.

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MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA- NewsWire Photos OCTOBER 12, 2025: Senator Lidia Thorpe speaks at the Nationwide March for Palestine held in Melbourne CBD. Picture: NewsWire/ David Crosling

Burn down the house? No point denying Thorpe’s extremism

Senator Lidia Thorpe’s controversial call is no mere metaphor – it showcases the violent discourse Anthony Albanese worries about. Her rhetoric risks normalising extremism.

COMMENTARYNation

rmed police officers stand with their weapons near Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Crumpsall, north Manchester, following the fatal attack there. Picture: Paul Currie / AFP

Manchester horrors seem a world away but likelihood of terror draws nearer

The Albanese government and premiers are failing Australian Jews and all of us by allowing an increasingly aggressive cohort of radicalised individuals to test the limits of public order.

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A Palestinian woman hugs a pair of shoes as she mourns outside Deir al-Balah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital where casualties of Israeli strikes in the central city of the besieged Gaza Strip were transported on October 2, 2025. Israel's defence minister issued a final warning for residents in Gaza City to flee south on October 1, as the Palestinian Hamas movement weighed the latest US plan to end the war in the besieged Palestinian territory. (Photo by BASHAR TALEB / AFP)

Little hope in Gaza peace plan better than no hope at all

Trump’s Gaza peace plan hinges on international backing and Hamas disarmament, but faces major hurdles from Palestinian ideology and regional reluctance for peacekeeping.

CommentaryNation

A long-awaited meeting between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Donald Trump has been set.

Albanese-Trump meeting: Go in positive or don’t go

If the PM wants to avoid being berated in the Oval Office about how little Australia spends on defence, he should go to Washington with a list of proposals to expand alliance co-operation.

CommentaryInquirer

Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister James Marape (R) and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese sign a mutual communique in Port Moresby on September 17, 2025. Australia and Papua New Guinea failed to sign a long-awaited mutual defence treaty as expected on September 17, as Canberra seeks to deepen ties with Pacific nations and counter Beijing's rising influence. (Photo by AFP)

Beijing is running rings around us in Pacific

The CCP plays a faster and more ruthless ground game. We can assume it was working behind the scenes to undermine Australia’s plan with Vanuatu and PNG leaders. So what to do now.

CommentaryInquirer

Anthony Albanese claims reports about ISIS brides returning to Australia are ‘not accurate’.

What Albanese is not telling us about ISIS brides’ return

Why so evasive? A braver approach would be for the Prime Minister to make a statement in parliament explaining why the government is repatriating the so-called ‘jihadi brides’.

analysisCommentary

While the Beijing military parade will undoubtedly look impressive, a much harder question to answer is whether the People’s Liberation Army can use its new equipment to best effect.

Why Xi’s parade hides his military fragility

The most dangerous weapon on show in the Xi Jinping military parade will be aggressive nationalism but Australia doesn’t have to ‘tremble and obey’.

commentaryNation

**EMBARGOED FOR 07/06/2025** 06 June 2025; Australia's reliance on American military protection is depicted through two solemn politicians overshadowed by a commanding Uncle Sam figure pointing directly at the viewer. Military assets frame the composition — fighter jets, submarines, tanks, and naval vessels — symbolizing the defense capabilities Australia lacks while depending on the US alliance. The stylized American flag backdrop reinforces the central critique from Greg Sheridan's article: that Australia continues to underfund its defense while expecting

The penny drops: US is losing faith in our reliability

Richard Marles travelled to Washington DC without even securing a meeting with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. This is amateur hour.

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/peter-jennings