On 4 June, the Australian Federal Police executed a search warrant on the home of a News Corp journalist, apparently seeking the source of a story in April 2018 that indicated that the secretaries of …
Articles by: "Peter Edwards"
Bob Hawke’s recent death prompted an outpouring of tributes to the Australian Labor Party’s longest-serving prime minister. Few recalled how close his government came to a terminal blow in its first year, largely at the …
During the 17 years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Australia’s intelligence agencies have gained not only a massive boost in resources but also a corresponding prominence in public policy and the political debate. Today barely …
Peter Jennings accurately described the contrast between two examples of structural policymaking last week, the announcement of the new Home Affairs portfolio and the release of the unclassified version of the 2017 Independent Intelligence Review. …
By interesting coincidence, Fear of Abandonment, an important book on the history of Australian foreign policy, appears 50 years after a book with which it has some interesting parallels. In 1967, Alan Watt published The Evolution …
As President Trump and Prime Minister Turnbull prepare to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea, and the centenary of the United States’ entry into World War I, we might also …
While Australia, like the rest of the world, has been trying to assess the implications of the election of Donald J. Trump, we’ve missed some other events or anniversaries that would normally have drawn our …
Historians still argue about the winners and losers of the Vietnam War, but there were two undoubted losers: the Republic of Vietnam—commonly known as South Vietnam—and its army, generally known as ARVN. The soldiers of …
The sudden death of Professor Jeffrey Grey of the University of New South Wales, Canberra—the academic component of the Australian Defence Force Academy—at the age of 57 has profoundly shocked not only the relatively small …
Recent assessments of Gough Whitlam’s legacy have treated foreign policy less prominently and more ambiguously than Whitlam himself did. Many have recognised that Whitlam brought a new vision to Australian foreign policy. His supporters have …
Australia’s seventh Defence White Paper was announced as we approach the 40th anniversary of the first Defence White Paper, tabled in Parliament in November 1976. A 40th anniversary is an appropriate time to reflect on …
Fifty years ago this month Robert Menzies retired from Parliament, after a record-breaking 16 years as Prime Minister (in addition to an earlier term of just over two years in 1939–41) and having won seven …