Much of the public policy discourse on AUKUS, the security partnership between Australia, the UK and the US, has focused on nuclear-powered submarines (Pillar 1). Far less attention has been paid to Pillar 2, which …
Articles by: "John Coyne"
Countering terrorism while preserving essential freedoms and holding together a stable and harmonious community isn’t an easy task, but it has been managed effectively by successive Australian governments and their agencies. The Albanese government’s focus …
While the AUKUS agreement and the defence strategic review have focused strong interest on the massive task of building, crewing and operating Australia’s future nuclear-powered submarines, the government has also agreed in principle to sizeable …
Nations must regularly ask themselves how they are to meet the challenges of their strategic context. The defence strategic review commissioned by the Australian government set out to assess Australia’s force posture, structure and capability. …
Geography has long been a strong driver of Australia’s national security and economic planning, the oft-noted tyranny of distance a blessing and curse. And while technology and globalisation have made the world much ‘smaller’, geography …
Australia has faced continuous and concurrent crises over the past few years. The nation’s resilience has been tested by challenges ranging from Covid-19 to economic coercion and from drought to floods. While we have weathered …
Over the past few years, Covid-19, climate change and Chinese economic coercion have catalysed rapid global economic, foreign relations and national security policy changes. In Australia, the public discourse on sovereignty, national capacity and secure …
In his 2023 annual threat assessment address, the head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, Mike Burgess, characterised Australia’s security environment as complex, challenging and changing. Burgess made it unequivocally clear that while threats to …
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil launched the government’s ‘critical infrastructure risk management program’ yesterday. The minister is clearly focused on preventing a repeat of last year’s high-profile and publicly contentious hacks of Optus and Medibank. …
For the third time in less than a century, the US government has rapidly awakened to Australia’s strategic importance. On this occasion, it’s focused on the significance of Australia’s northern strategic geography. While on previous …
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil has set out the Albanese government’s goal to redefine the tenor of Australia’s national security conversation, and to reshape her portfolio. In a speech to the National Press Club, O’Neil …
The global markets for rare-earth elements and critical minerals are shaping to be the next economic hot zone for the Chinese Communist Party—and for Australia’s security. Japan recognised the economic vulnerability created by China’s near …