Donald Trump is “surprisingly” good at foreign policy, according to former Australian prime minister Paul Keating, who says the United States was directionless under the previous three administrations. As the US president accepted an invitation to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for talks, Keating said he had not expected Trump to have “such a pragmatic” foreign policy and urged the president ...

A controversial new book asserts that the Chinese government is undermining Australia’s sovereignty through a network of local agents. Silent Invasion: How China is Turning Australia into a Puppet State has fuelled debate – some have welcomed discussion about China’s influence, while others say it could fuel xenophobia. The book, by Australian academic Clive Hamilton, argues that Beijing’s reach has ...

of all the Generation X world leaders elected in the last few years – think Justin Trudeau in Canada, Emmanuel Macron in France, and even the 31-year-old Sebastian Kurz in Austria – it is New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern who has the firmest sense of what kind of country she wants to lead on the world stage. Just four months since taking office ...

Statewide polls have the vote for SA Best at up to 32% but seat polls point to 20% Nick Xenophon’s new SA Best party has done quite well in statewide polls, suggesting that he could wreak havoc on the South Australian party system by winning a large number of seats and forcing the major parties to work with him in ...

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and four of Australia’s premiers visited Washington last week to build trade connections with the US and discuss a range of security-related issues. For the most part, however, the talks failed to cover an increasingly important potential dimension of cooperation between the two nations that considers the comparative advantage of both countries rather than a zero-sum ...

Michael McCormack is the new Nationals leader and deputy prime minister. Never heard of him? Never fear. We’ve compiled this handy assortment of tidbits and controversies to bring you up to speed. The McCormack basics From Wagga Wagga in New South Wales’ Riverina region, McCormack is a Nationals MP with a fairly typical history. He grew up on family farms at Marrar and ...

MORE than 300kg of the destructive drug ice has been stopped from making its way to South Australia — the largest haul of methamphetamine destined for Adelaide streets in state history. The investigation which led to the record bust involved the Australian Federal Police, Australian Border Force, Department of Home Affairs, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, the Australian Taxation Office ...

The Australian Foreign Minister isn’t budging on her country’s tough stance on the detention and deportation of New Zealanders. Julie Bishop was in Auckland yesterday for formal talks with her New Zealand counterpart, Winston Peters. The New Zealand Government has previously raised concerns about New Zealanders being treated unfairly as a result of Australian immigration policies that mean non-citizens can ...

The religious freedom review headed by Philip Ruddock has started secret hearings with evidence taken in private sessions, despite a commitment in January to be “as open as possible in its approach to submissions”. Ruddock has brushed off concerns that the process of private hearings reduces transparency, telling Guardian Australia “it’s not a trial” and the panel was more likely ...

The financial aspects of the Turnbull government’s plan to turn Australia into an arms exporting powerhouse are baffling, a leading defence expert says, but the decision to promote defence products overseas is welcome. Andrew Davies, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s director of defence strategy, said the Coalition’s plan to use a $3.8bn fund to underwrite an expansion of arms exports made little ...