Squaring the defence circle with tied hands

Defence’s worst kept secret is now officially public as Defence Minister Linda Reynolds revealed at last week’s Sea Power conference in Sydney that her Department is conducting a strategic review.

World peace (and how we can achieve it)

A new book by security expert Alex Bellamy is a ‘must read’ for anyone with even a passing interest in the theory and, more importantly, the possible practice of world peace.

Australia’s expanding navy helps us play a larger regional role

The Royal Australian Navy is building relationships with allies and gaining experience in an increasingly complex and uncertain Indo-Pacific region.

Beijing’s show of military might is a wake-up call for Australia

The massive military parade on the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China was a clear demonstration of China’s increasing desire to project power across the Pacific.

A cold, hard reality check on Antarctica

The Antarctic Treaty System is a consensus arrangement that has been in place for more than 50 years but this Cold War peace agreement is inadequate to respond to the security challenges of the 2020s.

Let’s “think different” about national security

We know what the future of our region looks like, but unless we start thinking about how we think, that knowledge may not be enough to help us cope with it.

Why the fifth domain is different

Cyber-warfare has joined land, sea, air and space as a domain of global conflict. Rather than continuing to talk about simply operating in the fifth domain, we should be thinking about shaping it, and shaping it to our interests.

Organised crime is testing Australia’s onshore migration program

Operation Sovereign Borders has reduced the number of irregular migrants dying at sea and stemmed the flow of people-smuggling ventures to Australia. Unfortunately, this success has come at great cost to our nation’s finances, and possibly our humanity.

Rethinking Australia’s food security

Australia needs to adopt a more coherent approach to the critically important convergence of food security, climate change and national security.

Food will decide the human future

Our future supply of food is filled with risk, and history tells us that lack of food leads to conflict. In his new book “Food or War” Australian author Julian Cribb calls for a new food system capable of meeting global needs on our increasingly hot and overcrowded planet.

The hard edge of soft power

The original Colombo Plan gave students from Asia and the Pacific a chance to study in Australia, and now a New Colombo Plan is sending Australians abroad to learn from our regional neighbours.

More arms won’t win the political war

By failing to be forthcoming and transparent about foreign disinformation campaigns, the Australian government is effectively ceding the ‘high ground’ of political warfare to our ideological adversaries.