Defence
China’s ability to strike targets in Australia is ‘real and growing’
The rapid expansion of China’s nuclear-powered submarine fleet and long-range missile stockpile is fuelling its growing ability to hit targets in Australia, a new report warns.
- Matthew Knott
Latest
State of anxiety: As Trump and Xi circle each other, Taiwan is on edge
With Taiwan’s relationship with its most important security partner in flux, the island’s existentialist fears are coming back up to the top.
- Matthew Knott
- Opinion
- AUKUS
Truth submerged? AUKUS will cost us $368 billion, so this is no time for secrecy
Secrecy in policy development is rarely justified – and it certainly isn’t for AUKUS, our eye-wateringly expensive defence deal with the US and UK.
- Carmen Lawrence
- Updated
- UK politics
UK defence minister quits hours before AUKUS meeting with Marles
The extraordinary move stunned the government, heightening the instability of Keir Starmer’s leadership.
- David Crowe
- Exclusive
- AUKUS
Shorten’s Trump fears on AUKUS revealed
The former Labor leader raised concerns about the prospect of Donald Trump being elected and compromising the AUKUS deal in a cabinet meeting in 2023.
- Paul Sakkal and Matthew Knott
One Nation defence plan could blow out budget by $400b and require conscription
One Nation’s polling surge, which has pushed it above Labor and the Coalition, has focused attention on the right-wing populist party’s policy platform.
- Matthew Knott
Hanson hosts barbecue for Ben Roberts-Smith supporters, questions his superiors
Against the backdrop of her party’s surging popularity, the One Nation leader threw her support behind the accused war criminal at a Brisbane park and also criticised police and media covering the case.
- Cloe Read
- Opinion
- AUKUS
Let’s not pretend that new – or old – submarines are what AUKUS is really about
Some say Australia’s new deal is akin to forfeiting a deposit on a new Renault to get a top-of-the-range Tesla, but receiving a second-hand model with 200,000 kilometres on the clock.
- Clinton Fernandes
- Analysis
- AUKUS
AUKUS spats show the US that Australia still has some explaining to do
The media frenzy over Australia getting “second-hand submarines” from the US shows successive governments haven’t done enough to sell the deal.
- Michael Koziol
- Opinion
- AUKUS
Would you buy a used submarine from Pete Hegseth? First, a history lesson
Australia’s record of buying used naval boats is chequered, to say the least. Its decision to acquire three second-hand nuclear-powered submarines carries real risks.
- Clive Williams