Marles’ Defence overhaul raises an awkward question: why AUKUS at all?
Australia’s new Defence Delivery Agency may finally expose an uncomfortable truth – that Australia already has formidable deterrent capabilities through the Royal Australian Air Force and emerging drone systems, making the AUKUS submarine commitment both risky and unnecessary.
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8 December 2025
Message from the Editor
Sometimes we run a piece that is much longer than our usual 1000 word upper limit because it is worth it.
8 December 2025
The 2026 budget is Labor’s real reform test
The 2026 federal budget offers a rare opportunity to begin rebalancing tax, lifting productivity and tackling long-term pressures on living standards.
8 December 2025
Friends and frenemies: Australia’s China policy is stuck in a four-tier mindset
Australia’s stabilisation of relations with China is welcome, but the old adversarial mindset remains intact. Institutional biases, selective outrage and context-free media narratives still shape how Australia sees China, limiting any genuine foreign policy reset.
8 December 2025
The quiet collapse of ‘plant-based’ fashion materials
For years, plant-based fashion materials were promoted as a sustainable breakthrough. Their rapid collapse tells a more sobering story – not about plants, but about hype, scale and transparency.
8 December 2025
Australia’s trust deficit is a failure of governance
Public trust in Australian politics is wearing dangerously thin. Restoring it will require clear standards, real accountability and decisions that can be traced, justified and owned.
8 December 2025
Australia’s human rights report has been quietly buried
The world marks Human Rights Day this Wednesday 10 December. But a comprehensive parliamentary report calling for a national Human Rights Act remains unanswered. Its silence speaks volumes about the gap between rhetoric and action in Australia’s human rights commitments.
7 December 2025
‘Bazball ’has revolutionised English cricket – Australia should be nervous
England’s ultra-aggressive “Bazball” approach has transformed its Test cricket record. Historical data suggests it could also give England its best chance in 15 years to reclaim the Ashes in Australia.
7 December 2025
Bill Gates knows the climate and poverty facts but misses the politics
Bill Gates downplays climate catastrophe, wolves are blamed – or credited – for ecosystem repair, and China’s energy surge defies Western narratives.
7 December 2025
History, memory, and pain: Fifty years after the Indonesian invasion of East Timor
On 7 December 2025, fifty years since Indonesian troops invaded East Timor, survivors and their descendants continue to live with the legacy of occupation, violence and loss – and to insist that remembrance, truth and justice still matter.
7 December 2025
When machines make the art, what’s left for human creativity?
As AI and automation take over more of the labour once central to artistic practice, creativity is shifting from making to selecting. The question is whether human expression survives that shift – or slowly withers.
6 December 2025
China’s challenge is explaining why it succeeded
Western commentary often dwells on China’s problems while overlooking the cultural and historical foundations of its extraordinary achievements. Understanding both is essential to informed judgement.
6 December 2025
P&I provides a moral compass, keeps hope alive and spurs on action
'Let me also take this opportunity to say thank you for what you are doing for Australia. P&I provides a moral compass, keeps hope alive and spurs on action. Dr Jane Anderson Adjunct Research Fellow – Population and Global Health The University of Western Australia
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