Andrew Farran

Andrew Farran in his younger days was a diplomat, Commonwealth civil servant and law academic (Monash). His subsequent business interests included international trade, intellectual property and publishing, and wool growing. He was a regular contributor to Pearls & Irritations from 2017 – 2020.

Writes extensively on international affairs and defence, contributing previously to major newspapers (metropolitan and rural). Formerly director of major professional publishing company. Currently apart from writing he directs a registered charitable foundation with links in both Australia and overseas.

Andrew's recent articles

ANDREW FARRAN.- A New Constitutional Health Power for the Commonwealth

Could the Caronavirus (Covin-19) outbreak be a tipping point swinging the balance of Constitutional power with respect to health in favour of the Commonwealth, as happened previously with defence, income tax and civil aviation?

ANDREW FARRAN/GARY SAMPSON. Brexiting in Brussels High Noon awaits?

As the UK/EU negotiators face up to the definitive stages of shaping their post-Brexit world, questions are being asked in London and elsewhere whether the Johnson Government is approaching these negotiations with serious intent having gone from lets get Brexit done to lets get our Sovereignty back.

ANDREW FARRAN. Further unintended consequences for Boris's Brexit.

Coming to terms with the repercussions of Brexit has not been made easier for the UK by Boris Johnsons self-imposed constraint that the business must be settled by 31st December with no extensions.

ANDREW FARRAN. Brexit, the final stages. Will Europe be the same again?

In the highly complicated and complex negotiations soon to be underway between the UK and the EU, and others, to complete Brexit, it cannot be assumed that truth will displace fact or that international trade law will be respected in the process

ANDREW FARRAN. Iran: The military track Military from Hybrid war to Denouement

What we are likely to witness, this year or later, is the 4th Iraq War - a process of reorienting the Levant around ideologically and sectarian driven forces and the undoing of the British-French (Sykes-Picot) colonial compact of 1916 (already well and truly undermined).

ANDREW FARRAN.- Weaponising Hostage Taking in International Diplomacy

Hostage diplomacy is about as low as it gets in a system of sovereign states that supposedly adheres to the inherent principles of comity, good faith and state responsibility.

ANDREW FARRAN. Brexit. The beginning is ending. The end is just beginning!

What explains Boris Johnsons election and what does it mean for Brexit? Pure fatigue. It should never have gone on this way.

It is secret government, not Chinese subversion, we have most to fear

Paul Barratt has put the country on notice that, as currently practiced by government, Australia could find itself at war before it knew it see https://publish.pearlsandirritations.com/paul-barratt-its-too-easy-to-take-us-to-war.

ANDREW FARRAN. Hugh Whites Plan for defending Australia

Hugh Whites How the Defend Australia is a masterly and lucid analysis of defence forward planning issues and force structure options that will be of enormous benefit to any thinking Australian with an interest in this area. As well as deserving high praise, it is of course open to some questions and specific criticism.

ANDREW FARRAN. Brexit and Britain: A strange state of affairs indeed

Brexit is again on the cusp. Boris Johnsons lowest common denominator Withdrawal Agreement (WA2) is before the Parliament either for a meaningful vote or for a Second Reading as a Bill. Whether passed as a meaningful vote, it cannot of itself secure Brexit as that is conditional on the passage of separate and complex enabling legislation which may be subject to amendment and may take a long time to enact. If however Boris chooses to crash out regardless and take his chances with regard to Parliament and the law, Britain will be in a turbulent state as never before.

ANDREW FARRAN. Modernising the Rules-based International Order

Prime Minister Morrisons verbal assault on what he described, in relation to multilateral institutions, as negative globalism that coercively seeks to impose a mandate from an often ill-defined borderless global community...and worse still an unaccountable international bureaucracy - is of course simplistic political rhetoric. But in the light of generational changes in the balance of the global order it raises serious questions for the present day and future that need to be addressed.

ANDREW FARRAN. UK Supreme Court thwarts Boris sneaky exit from the EU

The implications of the UK Supreme Courts decision in holding the Boris governments Prorogation of Parliament as unlawful, null and void, have far reaching implications for the Westminster system both in the UK and elsewhere. As for Brexit, the decision has made a UK exit from the EU by 31 October without a deal less likely, and more in accordance with legitimate process.

ANDREW FARRAN: A diplomatic niche in early Australian-Afghan Relations

Given that Australia has been engaged in military operations in Afghanistan, in addition to military/civil reconstruction and stabilisation efforts, in the provinces for over 18 years, it is only appropriate that we should greet the publication of a considered history of our relations with that country, explaining how we came to be so deeply involved in a country that previously we knew little about and seemingly cared less until this time.

ANDREW FARRAN. Brexit a reconfiguration of British politics

It is not new news that British politics are fragmenting. What we cant be sure about is how the political lines may permanently be redrawn. How might the two main drivers, Brexit and the next General Election (if and when held), impact on the process and determine political outcomes for the foreseeable future?

ANDREW FARRAN. Brexit - Put not thy trust in constitutional convention

Had the English Settlement of 1688 been followed with a written Constitution Britain might not be in the pickle it is today. Then the tussle between King and Parliament had resulted in civil war. While the Royal Prerogative Powers have been formally retained by the Monarch they are now in reality in the hands of one, King Boris, who recently secured them without endorsement by Parliament or other formal anointment.

ANDREW FARRAN. Boris will get his Brexit but at what cost?

Will PM Boris Johnson crash through and with what consequences if he does? He has set himself a wild challenge, on the level of do or die. Determined to achieve Brexit even without a deal, the likelihood at this stage is that he will get his Brexit but with consequences that will leave Britain anything but great; indeed relatively weaker (see: John McCarthy at: https://publish.pearlsandirritations.com/john-mccarthy-enter-boris/ ).

ANDREW FARRAN. Defence culture holding back balanced defence force

An analysis of Australias strategic culture, as distinct from posture, might have offered alternative or expanded answers to how we have got to where we are and how Australia should be defended in future - comment by Alan Behm on Hugh Whites How to Defend Australia.

ANDREW FARRAN. War games - more than burnt fingers

Are policy makers driving policy or is it the countrys spooks and their ideological soulmates in the so-called security establishment whose views are amplified in the conservative media? (Tony Walker, The Age)

ANDREW FARRAN. America First: Strategic Choices

President Trumps America First policies are shaking established structures. Regardless of Trumps future they are unlikely to be reversed anytime soon. His split with China opens unprecedented opportunities for Australia. Indeed a brave new world, if we have the intelligence and the skills to navigate the transition along with our regional partners.

ANDREW FARRAN. Brexit - the final breaking point awaits?

After a brief break the Gods got stirring again and it is only a matter of time before the British political system to all intents and purposes can be said to have gone irretrievably mad. Or can that yet be turned around?

ANDREW FARRAN. ASPI - a house divided?

It is heartening to observe that the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a body heavily subsidised by the Commonwealth Government to provide objective strategic advice, is beginning to open itself up to contestable thinking on critical strategic issues. Perhaps the government, of whatever persuasion, may be about to get its moneys worth.

ANDREW FARRAN. Extending the way to a viable Brexit?

Is the path to Britains withdrawal from the EU now finally clear, some three years after the Referendum that decided it should leave - to regain national sovereignty, to control its borders, and to conclude its own trade agreements with the rest of the world? Deadlines have come and gone - 28th March, 12th April, 22nd May and now a flexible extension to 31 October; or the UK may leave at any time meanwhile if it can get the EU agreed Withdrawal Agreement through its Parliament. Parliament has approved the extension prospectively, largely with Labour votes but with many Tories...

ANDREW FARRAN. PM Mays Brexit blind-sided by Parliamentary Speaker

Prime Minister Mays Brexit was on course to be delivered on 29th March as scheduled until the resubmission of the previously thwarted Withdrawal Agreement was blocked by the Speaker John Bercow, citing a 1604 convention last used in 1920 to the effect that legislation previously rejected cannot be resubmitted in the same Parliamentary session unless in a fundamentally different form.

ANDREW FARRAN. The UK will make Brexit on 29th March

The UK will make Brexit on 29th March if the government is to avoid a huge humiliation and unforgivable damage to its economy, not to mention the nations future diplomatic standing and credibility. This appears to have got through to Theresa May, the UK PM, as the civil service is working day and night to prepare hundreds of statutory instruments and other measures to prevent a legislative vacuum on withdrawal. Preparations to prevent chaos for trade and transport systems are not as well advanced which gives a further clue to future intentions. To extend the negotiating...

ANDREW FARRAN. Brexit: Game Plan upended?

As the deadline of 29thMarch approaches what could be the UK Prime Ministers game plan to get her deal across the line and avoid the chaos and disruption that a crashing out Brexit would entail? She would want to avoid a golden duck and make a comeback from her unprecedented defeat in the Commons on 15thJanuary. A successful exit would be a political triumph even if it would not please all her supporters. Failure however would represent one of the worst ever diplomatic disasters for a British Prime Minister.

ANDREW FARRAN. BREXIT: Its all about the Tories

The recent series of procedural votes in the British Parliament did not provide the hoped for route through the impasse for an unruffled Brexit. The hustle and bustle over the next few weeks will be more theatre than substance, deliberately, as Britain moves inexorably out the EU door, facilitated not surprisingly by Prime Minister Mays much maligned Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration.

ANDREW FARRAN. Brexit: Running out of time or anticipating a delay?

What explains an unprecedented, disastrous political defeat ever of a government on the floor of the British Parliament (432/202, a loss by 230 votes), followed within a day by its reaffirmation in government - prevailing over a no-confidence motion by a healthy margin of 19 votes? Essentially the Tories still cannot agree on an outcome for Brexit but bunch up to prevent their worst fear, the possibility of a Jeremy Corbyn led Labour Government.

ANDREW FARRAN. Brexit: Going for Broke?

Uproar and acrimony has resumed, even more intensely, over Brexit at Westminster this week on the resumption of Parliament following the Christmas break. The expectation, or rather hope, that members might have softened their hard lines after a due period of reflection and deeper thinking, in the national interest, have been sorely disappointed.

ANDREW FARRAN. Brexit Putting off the inevitable

The British Government is in total disarray, thrashing about for a way to minimise public outrage when the country crashes out of the EU without a deal on 29 March, which now appears inevitable. Its energies are now being devoted to planning for that catastrophe. What is remarkable is how little understanding its Ministers and their MPs have shown of international trade law and practice, and options otherwise available to them in their predicament were they to open their minds to them.

ANDREW FARRAN. Brexit: Reenter the Grand Old Duke of York.

The Grand Old Duke of York was said to have marched his troops right up the hill and then marched them down again. At least he is supposed to have had some (loyal) supporters.

ANDREW FARRAN. War and the national Interest.

Since the Korean War in the early 1950s, the US has committed a series of political and strategic misjudgements in its war decisions. Does this give us confidence about its future decisions and for a policy of going along with those decisions even when they do not directly involve our national interests? Nationalism and irrationality are on the rise, increasing the chances of conflict today more than for decades.

ANDREW FARRAN. Brexit: Law versus Process as next drama erupts

Theresa May suffered three defeats in just a few hours in the British Parliament this Tuesday which doesnt auger well for her EU Withdrawal Agreement next Tuesday. The various coalitions that have been the drivers to date may not hold well together thereafter.

ANDREW FARRAN. Brexit: Facing the Brexit cliff even when a viable path beckons

The UK is facing its Brexit cliff and will only have itself to blame if it stumbles over. The EU has done its best to accommodate UK requirements but has now lost patience. No renegotiation is in prospect. However a path to a mutually beneficial modus vivendi is now clear if the UK will take it.

ANDREW FARRAN. Brexit: The Beginning of the End

Thursday 15th November was a most extraordinary day at Westminster where a besieged lady tenaciously stood her ground at the despatch box and stared down some hundreds of howling Parliamentary interlocutors (mostly of her own party) and remained totally unfazed in defending the 585 page Withdrawal Agreement she had negotiated with the European Union.

ANDREW FARRAN. Brexit: When is a horse not a horse? When it is a camel.

This note was prepared following a five hour emergency Cabinet meeting last night accepting the deal with the EU and a brief statement without details by the British PM, Theresa May, declaring that the draft Agreement was the best deal possible, was in the best interests of the British people, and better than no deal. Such detail as we have at this stage is based on well informed leaks to the British media.

ANDREW FARRAN. What is it to be with China - cooperation or conflict? A response to Peter Jennings of ASPI.

In a prominent article in The Weekend Australians Inquirer section on 3/4 November, headed Canberra alone must control our China ties, the director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Peter Jennings, castigates the Victorian government, a large delegation of leading Australian businesses and the Australian Technology Network of Universities for having the temerity of engaging with Chinese counter-parts in pursuit of mutual interests. They are charged with being naive and operating outside their station.

ANDREW FARRAN. Brexit: The bus can be avoided after all!

It had been expected that Prime Minister Theresa May would be thrown under a bus, figuratively speaking, this week, next week, or sometime soon. If this has not happened it would be that no potential usurper has a plan that could secure passage through Parliament. Meanwhile, it is said, she is staring down her political opponents as might Boudicca in similar circumstances!

ANDREW FARRAN. Rendering 'rules-based order' to meaninglessness.

The constant reiteration in speeches of a Rules-Based Order is reducing the concept to relative meaninglessness, lacking either content or policy. There is already in existence a rules-based order which is undergoing change. The question is: what kind if change should that be.

ANDREW FARRAN. Fearing a Cold War with China!

There are fears that the Trump Administration may, with the urging of Americas military/business and security complex and support from middle America, extend its trade war with China into a new Cold War. This would be unlikely to gain substantive international backing though were it to happen it would pose an uncomfortable dilemma for Australia as to how to respond a long awaited test of national maturity.

ANDREW FARRAN. Brexit: Calamity awaits the world trading system.

The route to overcoming any impasse in the UK/EU Brexit negotiations may involve riding roughshod over their respective obligations under the global trading system, in particular the WTO. This, together with President Trumps on-going assault on the system, threatens to bring it down altogether with nothing better in its place.

ANDREW FARRAN. The US goes after the International Criminal Court

It is monstrous and ill conceived that the US National Security Adviser to President Trump, the notorious underminer of international institutions, including those with clear humanitarian purposes, one John Bolton, should get on his high horse to denounce the ICC whose jurisdictional powers are as far removed from the United States as are the terms of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas removed from the United States in the South China Sea.

ANDREW FARRAN. Brexit August holiday time for urgent reflections to avoid disaster

In that other hemisphere August is a time for holidays and reflection. For some it may be more a matter for reflection as they contemplate the virtual stalemate surrounding the UK's quest to be rid of the EU. The fact is that having so inextricably integrated itself with the EU over so many decades extrication has become a nightmare. Crashing out rather than a phased withdrawal is now a more likely prospect.

ANDREW FARRAN. Special Forces: The Downside - Impossible missions out of country and out of culture

The Australian Special Forces are again in the firing line for alleged misconduct in combat, in relation to which the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force is expected to hand down a report in the near future. The number of alleged incidents are more than previously believed, though relatively small overall.

ANDREW FARRAN. BREXIT. Wheres Boris?

It was mid-afternoon on the Monday (9th July) and the assembled Eastern European Foreign Ministers had visited London to hear an address by Foreign Minister Boris. But where was he? Boris had a major distraction from his day job.

ANDREW FARRAN. South Pacific Islands responding to security concerns

The Pacific Islands Forum will announce a new Biketawa Plus Declaration at its forthcoming Ministerial summit with fresh directions and priorities for members in the face of external pressures on the region, not least from China and Russia. There will be particular attention to security issues in keeping with good governance and the rule of law. The Forum owes much its character and structure to a former Australian diplomat and late Secretary General whose regional experience provided formative insights for its development in the modern era. The sinews of a viable Pacific Islands cooperative grouping with concerns for regional...

ANDREW FARRAN. Brexit: All in the National Interest

British PM Theresa May is presently holding the strategic high ground on Brexit after the day-long meeting with her whole Cabinet at Chequers last Friday. To her formerly disputing colleagues she could announce that evening: Collective responsibility is now fully restored.

ANDREW FARRAN. Brexit: Times almost up.

Former UK Chancellor George Osbornes London Evening Standard headlined after the recent Brussels summit: Stop Your Squabbling or Games Up, Cabinet Warned. Britains negotiating position to this point has been ambiguous, from a divided place and must tighten up. Cabinet will be meeting at Chequers on 6th July, to hammer out and clarify its settlement terms once and for all. That and the White Paper to follow, and the EUs response, will determine whether the clamour amongst the Remainders for a re-run of the Referendum, or for a final say on the outcome in Parliament, will subside or rise to...

ANDREW FARRAN. The fog of the Irish Sea still overhangs Brexit.

The House of Commons vote on 12th June has saved Prime Minister May for another day but has also left open the role Parliament might play in the outcome of the EU negotiations. A (definitive) White Paper on Britains negotiating terms can be expected after the European Economic Summit meets later this month.

ANDREW FARRAN. Parliamentary report on Section 44: Despite serious democratic deficit, referendum can wait!

There could be no clearer case for an early referendum than the fact that over half of all Australians today have barriers to nomination under s.44. In practice, the Report states, some may never be able to overcome these barriers and nominate. Indeed, 10,779,230 people (46% of the population) were born overseas or have one or more parents who were born overseas - a percentage much the same as may have existed when s.44 was drafted in 1898; and clearly it was not intended then that all such persons should be excluded from the Parliament after Federation.

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