ASPI’s Counterterrorism yearbook 2020, released today, was drafted at a time of upheaval in the global system. Like now, interstate tensions were on the rise and the global system was going through a drastic change. …
Articles by: "John Coyne"
In October 1942, Edward Ward, the minister for labour and national services, accused the Australian government of having planned to abandon the country’s north in the event of a Japanese invasion. While the ‘Brisbane Line’ …
The Chinese government was likely well aware of Australia’s plans to significantly enhance the Royal Australian Air Force base at Tindal in the Northern Territory before it was announced last month. Nonetheless, the government’s decision …
While Australians are often hawkish about community safety and border security, they’re far less accepting of their security agencies being given new domestic surveillance powers without government making a strong case for their use. You …
This week, Shadow Home Affairs Minister Kristina Keneally raised concerns that there are now around 50,000 people awaiting deportation from Australia. All of them arrived by plane and applied for asylum in Australia, but their …
ASPI’s ‘The north and Australia’s security’ program has just turned one. Over the past year, more than 30 pieces have been published under the banner of the program’s ‘North of 26° south’ Strategist series. Authors …
When the Australian law enforcement community continues to regularly break drug seizure records, it’s easy to assume that the supply of illicit drugs is being curtailed. Alarmingly, that’s not happening, and the government now needs …
When you consider the complexity of the Moro Islamic insurgency in the southern Philippines and the diverse motivations of the groups involved, it’s all too easy to be pessimistic about the prospects for a peaceful …
Last week, the Chinese government demonstrated its continued mastery of multi-layered messaging. Nary a news media outlet in the world failed to cover the show-stopping, muscle-flexing military parade held in Beijing to celebrate the 70th …
In 1975, Japan’s Kazuo Yamada invented a brilliantly simple yet addictive arcade game that would eventually be affectionately known as ‘Whac-A-Mole’. The premise for the game is simple. A player waits for plastic moles to …
Despite the best efforts of law enforcement agencies, regulators, international government organisations, diplomats and a complex framework of multilateral legislative and cooperative arrangements, the cost of financial crime and money laundering globally and regionally remains …
With Australia’s increasingly contested and uncertain strategic environment, defence diplomacy is more important than ever. The Australian Defence Force’s extensive and diverse training areas should play a key role in that effort. The Australia–Singapore military …