-
Australia and the U.N.
Gordon Weiss | September 22, 2020As the UN’s second secretary-general, Dag Hammarskjöld, famously said, the UN ‘was not created to take mankind to heaven, but to save humanity from hell’.
-
Increasing Australia’s investment in diplomacy
Michael Shoebridge | September 21, 2020Australia is underinvesting in diplomacy given the type of world we are living in. But it’s wrongheaded to blame MPs and ministers for not simply understanding the intrinsic value of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and giving it more money.
-
Multilateralism after COVID-19
Lisa Sharland | September 18, 2020Australia has enormous opportunities to influence the world for good, in ways that advance our wellbeing, security and prosperity, but it will require some tough decisions and clear policy making on the domestic as well as international front.
-
Will the National Cabinet change Federal-State relations?
Zim Nwokora | September 7, 2020The much-heralded success of the national cabinet is more related to the extraordinary circumstance in which it operates than its revolutionary design.
-
Premiers facing elections play hardball with hard borders
Michelle Grattan | September 6, 2020That old adage “never get between a premier and a bucket of money” has become “never get between a premier and a COVID election”.
-
Why Australia needs new foreign relations law
Peter Jennings | August 31, 2020The Morrison government is closing the door on a disastrous decade for Australia where our greed and naivety turned us wilfully blind to the predatory ambitions of China.
-
Morrison is closing the seams in our federation that China seeks to exploit
Michael Shoebridge | August 29, 2020Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s proposed foreign relations bill is all about closing the seams in our federation and giving practical effect to the Commonwealth’s constitutional power on foreign relations.
-
Why we need a new constitution
Bede Harris | August 27, 2020In a book to be launched this week by John Hewson, Bede Harris argues that the Commonwealth constitution is so defective that we need an entirely new one.
-
Valuing our Royal Commissions
Open Forum | August 20, 2020Politicians of both parties often resort to Royal Commissions to damp down controversy or punt tough choices into the future, but these august committees can still play a role in encouraging genuine reform.
-
Is democracy a victim of COVID-19?
Tom Gerald Daly | August 13, 2020The sidelining of state and federal parliaments during the COVID-19 crisis, and the emergence of a dominant National Cabinet has raised few public concerns, but is it weakening our democracy?
-
Diplomacy at a distance
Melissa Conley Tyler | August 10, 2020Australia’s diplomats are doing important work during the COVID-19 pandemic in the face of department cuts, as they help to ensure the safety and security of many Australians.
-
Contrasting Australian and German public policy
Dawn Lo | August 9, 2020The average Australian household is wealthier yet more indebted than the average German household, partly due to tax and retirement income policies.