On becoming Australia’s new defence minister, I will advise cabinet at its first meeting that our nation is at a perilous, strategic crossroad. (more…)
Category: Defence
-
A minority Labor Government’s policy agenda – Part 1
A minority Labor Government is widely seen as a likely outcome in the forthcoming election. (more…)
-
The myth of the US good cop
As Donald Trump destroys the old world order a new myth is taking hold: before Trump, it is said, America benevolently provided the defence for the Western world, policing rogue states and promoting international free trade. (more…)
-
Anzac voices – voices of warning
A shade over 110 years since the Gallipoli landings, Anzac Day is a day of mourning for many. Respect is due. And more. If we listen to the original Anzac voices, we may recognise voices of warning – relevant today. (more…)
-
ANZAC Day: Honour the dead, spurn the myths and militarism
ANZAC Day is an occasion to honour those who died fighting for Australia. (more…)
-
Close the US military bases in Asia
The best strategy for the superpowers is to stay out of each other’s lanes. (more…)
-
AUKUS is more than nuclear submarines and that’s a problem
When we think of AUKUS, most people picture the dangerous $368 billion gamble on a handful of nuclear submarines. The truth is AUKUS is a lot more, and a lot more dangerous, than these submarines. (more…)
-
Looking for a fair wind: Reflections on Australia’s maritime security
Australians may miss out on opportunities to reinforce our regional security if they are over-concerned about Chinese aggression in the South Pacific and do not take the opportunity of engaging in regional dialogue to resolve common problems. (more…)
-
Submarines are not instruments of peace: A Quaker’s response to Australia’s strategic obsession
Rear Admiral Peter Briggs’ recent defence of submarines offers a polished, strategic case for Australia’s continued investment in this kind of military hardware – especially nuclear-powered ones. (more…)
-
AUKUS turning point – Sydney Morning Herald calls for review
Since the AUKUS deal was signed in 2021 Pearls and Irritations has led a high-profile debate on the $368 billion deal, questioning whether it serves our interests. This week we saw a significant turning point. An editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald calls on the Australian Government to follow the UK lead, and launch an inquiry into the deal. Below is the full text of the editorial. (more…)
-
To Australia’s ‘realists’: Gnothi seauton (Know yourself)
In international relations, realism is a theory that views world politics as a competition among self-interested states vying for power and security within an anarchic global system, emphasising national interests and the potential for conflict. (more…)
-
AUKUS on track? No, Australia needs Plan B now
Last Monday’s AUKUS Security forum at the National Press Club heard arguments of those seeking to support the status quo. It was argued that criticism undermines AUKUS and risks turning the possibility that the US will not be able to spare Virginia class SSNs for sale to Australia from an ‘if’ to certainty. (more…)
-
AUKUS – the bucktooth cousin hidden in election blather
In French, buck teeth are called dents à l’anglaise, literally “English teeth”. Stay with me. The connection to the old dart, France, and the dishonourable origins of AUKUS will be revealed. (more…)
-
Keating says Trump’s tariffs mean death knell for NATO and ANZUS
Former Australian prime minister Paul Keating says Donald Trump’s neo-Monroeism has made it clear that America now calls only the Western hemisphere home. (more…)
-
In every China-US war game scenario I’ve seen, America has lost
Global security alliances are in turmoil, and Australia needs to critically rethink its defence and foreign affairs policies. (more…)
-
Time to split from sugar daddy
Last week, I listened to Stuart Rees and Sue Wareham, two regular contributors to P&I, discuss kindness and cruelty in public policy. (more…)
-
Time to call it. The US doesn’t give a stuff for us
Despite 80 years of Australian unwavering loyalty, as expected the US, “our closest ally”, is now screwing us on tariffs, with a hefty 25% tariff placed on Australian steel and aluminium exports. (more…)
-
Why does Australia need submarines?
Why submarines? The submarine’s most fundamental, key feature is its stealth. A well-handled, submarine is able to operate without causing fuss, in areas where we do not control the sea or air and gain access to areas denied to more overt platforms, such as ships, aircraft and unmanned aircraft. (more…)
-
AUKUS: Many chickens but no subs
John Menadue recently argued convincingly that the “AUKUS chickens were coming home to roost already”. Shortly thereafter, the Guardian helpfully reported that a “Trump pick for the Pentagon says selling submarines to Australia would be ‘crazy’ if Taiwan tensions flare”. (more…)
-
The fundamental problem at the heart of defence policy
The noise over meeting US demands on military spending underlines the fundamental problem at the heart of Australian defence policy: there is no strategy. (more…)
-
Hurry up and wait
One principle of American military affairs has been said since the 1940s to be “hurry up and wait”. That certainly applies to AUKUS, an agreement so urgent that in September 2021 Prime Minister Scott Morrison gave Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese only 24 hours to agree to it. (more…)
-
Kim Beazley bombs out
March hasn’t been one of the better months for Kim Beazley, the former Hawke and Keating Government minister, leader of the federal ALP and governor of Western Australia and now chairman of the Council of the Australian War Memorial. (more…)
-
The limits of diplomacy
We live in a global community, and many of us enjoy the benefits. A far greater number have no such enjoyment, existing in disadvantage; in poverty, hunger, homelessness, oppression, violence of one kind or another- preventable travesties. (more…)
-
Pine Gap – No price could ever be right
To the horror of the Australian defence and foreign policy establishment, Senator Jacqui Lambie had a characteristically sharp and to the point response to Donald Trump’s imposition of a 25% tariff on Australian steel exports to the United States. (more…)
-
Government refuses to articulate ‘frankly terrifying’ security risks
The Albanese Government has jammed itself by trying to not talk about the greatest threat to Australia’s future, but has now opened itself to the charge of playing politics with security issues. (more…)
-
ANZUS and NATO are kaput and Trump doesn’t care
Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton have proven too gutless, so far, to speak frankly to Australians about the implications of the imposition of new tariffs by the US, the first of many, to be imposed on Australia. They have expressed some ritual regrets and said it was a poor reward for their sycophantic grovelling over the years. They have not said that the coming election is the perfect time for blunt discussions of what it all means. (more…)
-
A five-minute scroll
It is 22 years since Rachel Corrie was killed by the Israeli military as she defended a Palestinian home against a bulldozer. Adam Bandt on ABC’s Insiders says the priority should be to end AUKUS. Bombing continues in Yemen where Ansar Allah is maintaining a blockade in the Red Sea. The Australia Institute calls out rising house prices. (more…)
-
AUKUS, Trump and independence
How should Australia respond when the US, our closest ally, is engaged in a very public and petulant global meltdown? (more…)
-
Is PM Albanese about to amaze Australia?
Amazing? PM Albanese is the first Australian prime minister since John Curtin to push back publicly on our security against a global leader since John Curtin recognised the danger of an exploitative Britain eight decades ago. Curtin acted. Could it be that Albanese just might act too? (more…)
-
Cut defence spending to make us stronger and safer
There’s a simple solution to the problem of Chinese warships sailing around Australia: a reciprocal agreement – you don’t sail off our coast and we won’t sail off yours. (more…)