Markets on the front line

Markets are the frontlines of strategic competition and the foundation of Australia’s national power. We must therefore engage them with greater strategic clarity, sharper statecraft, and a stronger sense of national purpose.

The rest of the snake

The attack on Iran will certainly change the leadership in Iran, given the killing of the country’s supreme leader, but whether it leads to the collapse of the Islamic regime itself remains uncertain.

Asking the difficult questions

If we want to honour the Bondi victims and heroes alike, and reduce the likelihood of recurrence, we should ask not whether someone was known to ASIO but perhaps how hatred has been allowed to harden into something that made violence seem possible at all.

Australia’s stress test

The dreadful terrorist attack at Bondi Beach on Sunday should be understood not only as an act of violence against Sydney’s Jewish community but as a stress test of Australia’s security, social and policy systems.

Building a human firewall

Australia’s security risks are sharpest where people and technology meet as this is the space where data flows, disinformation spreads and innovation thrives and where defences can be breached.

The case for a national resilience campaign

The killing of American activist Charlie Kirk should remind Australians of the value of democracy in which people of all political beliefs can debate and disagree without resorting to violence.

Eternal vigilance

Our open free society is vulnerable to exploitation by hostile, authoritarian foreign powers such as China, Russia and Iran, and security is required to preserve our freedoms, rather than constrain them.

Naming names

The government has released its first report on foreign interference in Australian affairs but remains curiously reluctant to name the countries involved.