by Michael Shoebridge | Jul 15, 2025 | China, Policy
So, prime minister Albanese is in China for his fourth meeting with Xi Jinping, accompanied by a large Australian business delegation. We hear from the government that now they have ‘stabilised the relationship’ with Beijing, it’s time to grow our two way...
by Michael Shoebridge | Jul 14, 2025 | China, Defence Budget, Indo Pacific, Policy
Senior figures in the Trump Administration are asking if Australia is committed to deterring Beijing from invading Taiwan and have made their request public. And our prime minister is tying himself up in knots trying not to answer. He doesn’t want to say...
by Peter Jennings | Jul 8, 2025 | AUKUS, China, Policy, Strategy & Capability
Anthony Albanese’s wildly inaccurate take on John Curtin’s war would fail as an undergraduate essay. Curtin’s defiance of Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt to bring Australian troops home from the Middle East did not win the war or create an independent...
by Michael Shoebridge | Jul 7, 2025 | AUKUS, China, Defence Budget, Indo Pacific, Policy, Strategy & Capability
Anthony Albanese has used a speech about our wartime prime minister John Curtin to assert Australia’s independence on security from America, right when our relations with Trump’s America and Xi Jinping’s China are both complicated and difficult. His speech will be...
by Anthony Bergin and Greg Rose | Jul 5, 2025 | Policy
The ongoing Iran-Israel war will soon transition into international lawfare. The Security Council will hold a high-level open debate on peace and security on 22 July, chaired by Pakistan, which can hardly be regarded as neutral. Back home, the ABC’s news and current...
by Peter Jennings | Jul 5, 2025 | AUKUS, China, Policy
“It’s past the point that the failure of Donald Trump and the Prime Minister to meet face-to-face can be put down to diary difficulties. Anthony Albanese will not go to Washington – and it’s clear Trump is playing him.” Ernest Hemingway famously asked:...
by Michael Shoebridge | Jul 3, 2025 | AUKUS, Defence Budget, Featured, Strategy & Capability
The Navy is systematically failing to manage and maintain the two largest ships in its fleet – the 27,000 tonne LHD amphibious ships HMAS Canberra and HMAS Adelaide. The scale of the troubles is laid out in a 108 page national audit office report, with almost...
by Michael Shoebridge | Jul 2, 2025 | AUKUS, China, Defence Budget, Indo Pacific
Beijing’s representative in Australia, Ambassador Xiao Qian, has just spent 900 words in an article this week telling us we should not spend more on defence because he says so and because China is no threat. But in all his words the ambassador fails to mention...
by Michael Shoebridge | Jun 30, 2025 | China, Defence Budget, Indo Pacific, Policy, Strategy & Capability, Uncategorized
As we watch Donald Trump’s unpredictable America bomb Iran, and see Xi Jinping building his military to conquer Taiwan by force (if and when he so decides), plenty of familiar voices are saying now is the time to cut the cord with America and chart a new independent...
by Michael Shoebridge | Jun 28, 2025 | Defence Budget, Europe, Policy
Why didn’t Richard Marles explain to Donald Trump and the other 31 leaders of NATO nations that they don’t need to invest more in their nations’ defence to deal with an aggressive Russia enabled by China? Instead, they only need to focus on the quality of their...
