Australia, South Korea and Indonesia used their status to play coy on joining China’s new development bank. Canberra, Seoul and Jakarta felt they could stand back and await further blandishment while 20 Asian nations joined …
Articles by: "Graeme Dobell"
The former diplomatic mandarins of Oz think Australia is so committed to the US alliance it has mislaid its primary focus on Asia. A leading light of the ex-mandarins, John McCarthy, says Asia sees Australia …
Julia Gillard writes that she inherited ‘unrealistic’ defence settings from Kevin Rudd and hints faintly that she bequeathed the same to the Abbott government. Just as Gillard needed a new defence policy because of Kevin …
Gough Whitlam helped Australia think about finding its security in Asia, not to seek security from Asia. Not least of Whitlam’s achievements was to make Australia colour-blind, in both word and deed. Harold Holt’s government, …
Gough Whitlam was a physical giant with an intellect to match. His flaws were pretty sizeable, too, and the pygmies who beset him were often from his own party. His self-mocking humour was immensely appealing, …
Here’s Canberra lore—or three rules of an Unholy Trinity—explaining how politicians operate. When nothing makes sense, rely on the Trinity pulsing beneath the surface of party, parliament and government: It’s always personal There’s always a …
Turn to Douglas MacArthur for a tough and true description of what Australia means to the United States. It’s 1942. The US commander is meeting Australia’s Prime Minister John Curtin to plan the war against …
Titles are always difficult, so give a good mark to ‘Australia’s Defence: Towards a New Era?‘ Mixing pickiness with praise, tick the ‘new era’ idea while guffawing at the question mark hanging off the title. …
Through the Suharto years, the economists were optimistic about Indonesia and the political scientists were pessimistic. Now the roles have reversed. With the explosion of Indonesian democracy, the political types can hardly contain their joy …
Some key elements have yet to embrace the idea of Australia and Japan as allies. Two groups not to have noticed or still to be convinced are the peoples of Japan and Australia. Fair enough, …
The avowed purpose of the Canberra officer project is to get an officer corps that can better serve Australia’s political leaders and win the bureaucratic battles. An undeclared purpose is the creation of political nous. …
In the Australian system going to war is extremely simple. The Prime Minister and Cabinet agree, the order is given and the shooting starts. Then there’s the hard stuff—not just the fighting, but handling the …