As Covid-19 continues to ravage much of the world, Australia is stepping up to assist its near neighbors in their fight against the virus. After several years of falling aid spending, last October’s announcement of $500 million over three years for Covid-19 vaccines on top of an earlier $300 million commitment indicates that Australia is […]
Tag Archives: Australia
It may be an uncomfortable truth, but Australia has monumentally mishandled its relationship with China. If the future with our largest trading partner is now uncertain, we overwhelmingly have ourselves to blame. China is Australia’s largest trading partner – it has been sheer luck that Australia has had the commodities that a booming China wants […]
In the next day or so, Indonesia’s Abu Bakar Bashir, the so-called ‘spiritual head’ of Jema’ah Islamiya which launched the 2002 Bali bombing which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, will be released from prison. He will be released under a presidential pardon by President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo. Unsurprisingly, Bashir’s impending release has generate much […]
Australia’s decision to temporarily halt military flights over Syria as part of the US ‘collective defence’ of Iraq illustrates how Russia and its proxy ally Syria are becoming twitchy over how the Syrian civil war is playing out. The Battle for Raqqa – Islamic State’s headquarters – is entering its final phase, with the Kurdish […]
Australia is facing a new regional challenge as its northern neighbours increasingly join a global trend towards a more fundamentalist form of Islam. While this shift in religious orientation does not present a direct threat to Australia – at least for the time being – it is already complicating Australia’s regional relationships. The Sultan of […]
After balking at its first diplomatic test over revelations of spying on Indonesia last year, there was still a reasonable expectation that the new government would quickly find its foreign policy feet. Julie Bishop as foreign minister was intended to present a firm but friendly policy face to the world, while Tony Abbott got on […]
It will take some months to play out, but Australia is finally before an international tribunal to determine whether or not it has acted legally over the division of the Timor Sea with Timor-Leste. At stake is the territorial boundary between Australia and Timor-Leste and, therefore, control of tens of billions of dollars worth of […]
Australia and Indonesia have worked hard over the past decade to build a strong bilateral relationship, seen as valuable by Indonesia and as critically important by Australia. That relationship is now in tatters. The Australian government has been at pains to explain to Indonesia that recent naval incursions into Indonesian territorial waters, intended to stop […]
From his output, ASPIs Anthony Bergin likes nothing if not to test ideas in relation to Australias strategic positioning. His recent proposition that Australia is not so much a middle power but a pivotal power is a case in point . http://www.aspistrategist.org.au/is-australia-a-pivotal-power/ Bergins argument is that the common strategic descriptor for Australia as a middle […]
Australia’s relationship with East Timor is at risk as the deadline looms on a hotly disputed and lucrative liquid natural gas project — with no resolution in sight. West Australian-based Woodside Petroleum has until February 23 to reach an agreement with the government of East Timor over the site of processing LNG or else the […]