From the erosion of Western authority to Australia’s election result, 2025 exposed deep shifts in global power, alliance politics and the limits of domestic reform.
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Category: Defence
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2025 in Review: The fading West, a cautious Labor win and an uncertain world
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AUKUS meets reality – UK ‘all in’ a mess (Part 2)
Australia is betting on a British program plagued by delays, underinvestment and workforce shortages – a gamble that risks leaving the country without any sovereign submarine capability. (more…)
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AUKUS meets reality – what’s not in the AUSMIN Media Release (Part 1)
Despite official assurances, the US submarine program is falling well short of its own targets, raising serious doubts about whether Australia will ever receive the Virginia class submarines promised under AUKUS. (more…)
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A Boyer Lecture that misunderstands Australia’s defence history
The latest Boyer Lecture portrays Australia as trapped by anxiety about the United States. In fact, for decades the country pursued a deliberate, bipartisan strategy of defence self-reliance – abandoned only in recent years.
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US alliance holding us back
Australia’s US alliance is preventing the country from signing and ratifying the Treaty for Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, despite overwhelming public support for the government to do so.
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Australians are markedly more worried about the US, but still wary about China
Australians’ concerns and mistrust of China are easing, while doubts about the US are increasing.
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Nuclear testing threatens global stability
Gareth Evans, Robert Hill, and Larissa Waters are among the Australian signatories of a statement calling on Trump to clarify that the US will not resume nuclear explosive testing.
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In Ukraine’s Pokrovsk, narratives have collided with brutal realities
Up to 5000 Ukrainian soldiers are in danger of encirclement in the key town of Pokrovsk by a powerful Russian war machine that has ground ever so slowly forward over the past 18 months. (more…)
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Another RSL dope wants to draw us into a major war
It beggars belief that the outgoing head of the RSL, Greg Melick, has abused the quiet solemnity of Remembrance Day to lecture and berate the Albanese government on its defence policy. (more…)
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The defence myth
When opponents of the military build-up and critics of the genocide in Palestine went to protest outside the Indo-Pacific Maritime Exposition in Sydney, they were confronted by a huge force of New South Wales police. (more…)
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Arms industry infiltrates National Press Club
More than a quarter of the National Press Club’s sponsors are part of the global arms industry or working on its behalf. (more…)
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Revealed: Secret plans to introduce media censorship in Australia
Moves to restrict just what journalists can report on defence and intelligence matters are underway – and journalists need to get up to speed fast. (more…)
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South Korea, Canada and a middle-power submarine: Can Australia join?
Sometimes, middle-power enthusiasts get overly excited about the potential for said states to work together. It’s almost as if you want to see those “little guys” grab the ball and run it all the way to the try line — or the end zone, for you Americans. (more…)
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The unvanquished will: Gaza’s triumph of spirit against the architecture of genocide
For the last two years, my social media algorithm has been relentlessly dominated by Gaza, particularly by the voices of ordinary Gazans, displaying a blend of emotions that centres on two core principles: grief and defiance. (more…)
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It’s no longer possible to be a Palestinian in the West Bank
In the West Bank, no one has heard about the ceasefire in Gaza: not the army, not the settlers, not the Civil Administration and, of course, not the three million Palestinians who live under their tyranny. They do not feel the end of the war in the slightest. (more…)
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More defence spending, please – just not on the military
Donald Trump has pushed the Australian and other governments to increase defence spending. Defending society from threats is important, but there’s more to it than soldiers and weapons. (more…)
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Indonesia’s security depends on educating the minds behind its machines
Indonesia is investing in its regional influence — purchasing new fighters, drones, frigates and billions in defence contracts — while allowing its classrooms to deteriorate. (more…)
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Readying the north for war
Few Australians realise that the tropical north occupies more than 40% of our land mass while holding only 5% of the population. But governments — colonial, state and national — have speculated about its destiny since the middle of the 19th century. (more…)
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Vanity, defence or just wanting to show off?
For a demagogue, what could be more stirring than to take the salute on a raised dais as thousands of armed men and women march past like robots in perfect synchronisation? (more…)
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Ignorance is complicity: Australia must end its arms trade with those committing crimes
Rayana Ajam is one of six talented young Australians who will travel to the UN General Assembly in New York next week as part of the Global Voices project. (more…)
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Secret cargo: Inside Australia’s covert F-35 parts pipeline to Israel
At least 68 shipments of F-35 fighter jet parts have been flown on commercial passenger planes to Israel from Australia as recently as last month, leaked documents reveal. (more…)
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Steerage for the Australian-PNG navy?
The mutual defence treaty between Australia and Papua New Guinea could be a masterstroke for both countries, if our defence boffins could think laterally. I bet they won’t. (more…)
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Quantico’s verdict: The silence that stripped Trump bare
Donald Trump has always measured power by applause. Rallies, ratings, and ovations have been his fuel, the noise that kept the illusion of command alive. But at Quantico, facing the nation’s military brass, the noise stopped. (more…)
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Scarborough collision triggers Beijing’s strategic hardening
On 11 August 2025, Chinese law enforcement and naval vessels reportedly collided during an interception of a Philippine coast guard ship near Scarborough Shoal. (more…)
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Disengaging from the dangerous alliance
When, in the course of close — some would say politically intimate — relations between allies, the dominant partner demands that the subordinate partner betray its democratic principles as a cost of receiving favourable treatment, the time has come to terminate the relationship. Such is now the state of the Australia-US alliance. (more…)
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Treaty delay shows Australia still thinks it knows what’s best for PNG
The Albanese Government appears to want to force Pacific countries into choices they do not want to make. (more…)
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What game is he playing? The PM and AUKUS
As the Australian prime minister prepares for his visit to the UN in New York next week, Robert Macklin looks into what Anthony Albanese might be hoping for on the trilateral security deal. (more…)
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Labor is taking Australia into a US war with China
The Albanese Labor Government is actively making plans to take Australia into a future US war with China.
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AUKUS anniversary reminder to the prime minister
Dear prime minister, How very unfortunate that you chose 14 September to announce further expenditure on submarine facilities. (more…)
