Derek Woolner
Derek Woolner is co-author of The Collins Class Submarine Story: Steel, Spies and Spin. He is a previous director of the Foreign Affairs and Defence Group in the Parliamentary Research Service.
Recent articles by Derek Woolner
1 October 2024
The wrong trousers: focusing on the real AUKUS issue
The AUKUS agreement is controversial. It covers advanced military technologies whose future is contested by experts. There is also a vigorous discussion over whether the agreement has compromised Australia’s autonomy on strategic policy making and implementation. Yet this latter debate completely misses why AUKUS is at risk of failure.
5 April 2024
Chinas quiet energy revolution: the switch from nuclear to renewable energy
There is now a policy dispute about the roles of nuclear and renewable energy in future Australian low emission energy systems. The experience of China over more than a decade provides compelling evidence on how this debate will be resolved. In December 2011 Chinas National Energy Administration announced that China would make nuclear energy the foundation of its electricity generation system in the next 10 to 20 years. Just over a decade later China has wound back those ambitious targets and reoriented its low emission energy strategy around the rapid deployment of renewable solar and wind energy at unprecedented rates.