International Affairs

William Maley

Following a letter of demand from the extremist Taliban, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has moved to shut down the Afghan Embassy in Canberra from 1 July 2026. How this could serve any Australian ‘national interest’ remains a complete mystery.

Médecins Sans Frontières

Six months since the fragile and ineffective ceasefire was implemented in Gaza on 10 October 2025, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is raising the alarm on continued violent attacks by Israeli forces and an ever-expanding military control of the Strip. At the same time, the living conditions of Palestinians remain dire, against the backdrop of a continuous and deliberate pattern of obstruction of aid by Israel, which is translating into entirely preventable deaths. MSF’s medical teams are witnessing firsthand that, while the intensity of the conflict has decreased, the reality in Gaza remains catastrophic.

Kat Rae

I’m a veteran of 20 years. War crime apologists don’t speak for us. Like many who have served, I was deeply shaken by the Brereton Report in November 2020. The war crimes detailed across its 530 pages—including the alleged murder of 39 Afghans by Australian Special Forces soldiers—were far worse than anyone expected.

Allan Behm

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles has released the defence strategy you have when you don’t have a defence strategy. What the Deputy Prime Minister offers as justification for this strategy requiring large dollops of recurrent and prospective spending, amounts to little more than a collection of unsupported, and possibly unsupportable, assertions.