AAP Image/Darren England

Without women, Australia’s defence force will struggle to recruit enough people

We need women in the military, including in combat roles. Without them, recruitment targets will fail. It’s not diversity, equality and inclusion: it’s reality.
People react as they see North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during a mass rally and parade in Pyongyang. Reuters/Damir Sagolj

North Korea

In 2017, the Korean Peninsula retains its status as “political hotspot”, due largely to the uncertainty surrounding North Korea’s nuclear intentions. Even in the context of the country’s most recent missile…
Citing ‘the national interest’ enables Julie Bishop and her government colleagues simply to assert the need for everything from tougher security laws to supplying arms to Iraqi rebels. AAP/Lukas Coch

‘National interest’ figleaf avoids debate on wars and terror laws

“There is no such thing as the national interest,” I tell my first-year Australian foreign policy students. This tends to stop them in their tracks. After all, if there is no such thing as the national…