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  • Are peace and democracy on life support

    Webinar, Tuesday 15 April, 6 – 7pm AEST Recent elections have raised deep concerns not only about the future of democracy but also the peace and security for millions of people across the world. We face an uncertain and challenging future with a frightening new arms race funded by slashing aid to the poorest and…

  • Does China threaten Australia’s future peace and security?

    APSF Webinar 18 February 2025 – transcipt Introduction The topic and question for tonight’s webinar is, Does China threaten Australia’s future peace and security? It’s an important question that has dominated Australia’s national security discourse for almost a decade now – if not longer – and I’m grateful to be given the opportunity tonight to…

  • Why we need a peace and security strategy

    By Michael Walker An episode of the Five Minute Advocate, aired on community radio on 25 March 2025. APSF Board member Dr Michael Walker speaks about the Office of National Intelligence’s Climate Risk Assessment that has never been released to the public and the need for public involvement and even citizens assemblies in shaping the…

  • Australia-China relations: A question of trust

    By Jocelyn Chey Let’s restore the trust in China that we once enjoyed. This was the key message I presented to an online forum titled Does China Threaten Australia’s Peace and Security hosted by the Australian Peace and Security Forum on 18 March. Following is a condensed version of my talk. In December 1960, the…

  • Webinar, ‘Constructive engagement with China’, 6pm, Tuesday 18 March, 2025.

    Our government is apparently seeing China as a threat in the Asia Pacific region, hence our $375 billion AUKUS agreement with the US and UK. But is China really a threat to Australia or the region? How do other countries in the region view China and our agreement with the USA? What are our options?’…

  • “Will AUKUS make us safer”, Webinar, 11 February, 2025.

    Intro by Prof Penny D Sackett to 2.43 Melissa Parke, CEO ICAN at 2:44 Allan Behm, Advisor International & Security Affairs Program, The Australia Institute, at 17:45 Major Gen Mike Smith (ret’d) APSF Board member, with 34 yrs in the ADF, at 34:15 What are the prospects and consequences of nuclear war? Is Australia likely…

  • Webinar talk by Major Gen Mike Smith (ret’d), ‘Will AUKUS make us safer? In a word: “NO” ‘ 11 February 2025

    Greetings from Ngunnawal country in Canberra. I add my respects to the traditional custodians of our lands, seas and waterways. I must say that the latest statistics on ‘closing-the-gap’ are shameful. Our nation will not be complete unless and until we build this bridge. So, will AUKUS make us safer? In a word: “NO” –…

  • Climate and security risks? Shhh, says the Albanese Government

    The Los Angeles fires have again demonstrated the need for a steely-eyed approach by governments to climate risks, ensuring that the assessment of those risks is up-to-date, considers the plausible worst-case scenarios, and is made widely available so the public understands what we are facing. But the Australian Government’s work-in-progress National Climate Risk Assessment appears…

  • APSF Webinar, 3 December, 6pm “Water: essential for life and our security”.

    Australia is one of the driest continents and water is critical for the environment, agriculture and for all Australians, whether in small country towns or in the cities. Droughts and floods are part of our history, but as climate disruption ramps up, it is even more crucial that we are prepared for the uncertain future.…

  • Climate change and national security

    Podcast with Dr Albert Palazzo, Adjunct Prof University of NSW, Former Director, War Studies, Army Research Centre, 6 December 2024 “Our failure to put in any meaningful policies to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions to rapidly reduce them to zero, basically dooms humanity to a very tough ride in the coming decades…We have now…

  • Time to talk peace: War memorial must think of kids

    Tens of thousands of school students visit the Australian War Memorial every year – more than 95,000 in 2022-23 alone. For students in Years 4-12, a visit to the Memorial is mandatory for the school to receive federal funding for a visit to Canberra. The Memorial therefore plays a role in shaping what young Australians…

  • The real meaning of security

     José Ramos-Horta – Published in The Saturday Paper, October 19 – 25, 2024 Language is a truly fascinating phenomenon – it is fluid and constantly evolving. We are barely aware that, as we are shaping its evolution, language is shaping us – individually and collectively. This is what makes it such a potent political tool. Language can be…

  • The Fraying of the Australian Social Contract – Dr Albert Palazzo

    The Australian nation faces a convergence of events that risk the security and prosperity of its people. Some of these are well known and receive considerable attention from the government and the media, such as the consequences of China’s emergence as a great power. Others are equally well known but receive minimal attention and resources…

  • World Court faces ‘unprecedented’ number of cases

    21 October 2024 During a visit to UN Headquarters in New York, where he is due to brief the Security Council Tuesday, Mr. Gautier told UN News’s Julia Foxen that this global divide requires the UN’s principal judicial organ – commonly known as the world court – to maintain its autonomous and independent role “without…

  • A plea for peace in the Middle East — Louise Adler and Nasser Mashni. ABC Radio National Big Ideas

    Wed 16 Oct 2024 at 6:00pm – Link here Two Australians who are intimately connected to the conflict in the Middle East, one Jewish, one Palestinian, make their pleas for peace, and share their deeply personal stories of how it has affected them. The 13th annual UN International Day of Peace Brisbane lecture was recorded…