Assistant Defence Minister Andrew Hastie has told military personnel their “core business” will always be the “application of lethal violence” and warned “mission clarity” is vital to their work. Key points: Senior government figures said Mr Hastie’s message closely...
Commentators
Opinion – Immediate action vital to saving veterans’ lives
Saturday 3rd Apr 2021
The ADF does not have a monopoly on suicide in Australia. It is a national scourge that respects neither age, status, profession, rank, race nor social circumstances. No singular interest group has ownership of its causes, its consequences and, possibly more...
Opinion: Anzac Day is on unless there’s more cowardice
Saturday 27th Feb 2021
BARRING further acts of political cowardice, Australians will commemorate Anzac Day 2021 as they have done for almost 106 years. Almost, because last year’s commemorations were curtailed by an overwhelming government fear of spreading an exotic disease. READ...
Opinion: Comment on the Afghanistan Allegations
Monday 14th Dec 2020
“I have been following the public debate on the allegations that our soldiers have committed criminal acts whilst deployed on operations in Afghanistan. I feel compelled to take a moment to comment on the Brereton report and its allegations the SAS committed war...
Opinion: Tariffs, Toxic Tweets & Tough Talk
Friday 11th Dec 2020
The People’s Republic of China has tested Australia’s resolve over the last few weeks. Tariffs, toxic tweets and tough talk from so-called wolf warrior diplomats are designed to make us blink. We haven’t. Our Prime Minister has resisted economic coercion and...
Opinion: Andrew Hastie – Difficult Days Lie Ahead
Saturday 5th Dec 2020
Threats to Australia are increasingly complex. As the Prime Minister warned us on 1 July at the launch of the Defence Strategic Update: “Coercive activities are rife. Disinformation and foreign interference have been enabled and accelerated by new and...
Andrew Hastie – SAS must put honour before glory
Tuesday 24th Nov 2020
‘Grieved’ and ‘shamed’ by the Brereton report, soldier turned federal MP Andrew Hastie says ‘we ignored the true nature of war and sanitised it’. Read this extract from his article printed in The Australian 24th November 2020 “I served in the SAS for the next five...
Opinion – When Australia Punched Above its Weight
Thursday 25th Apr 2019
Opinion – When Australia Punched Above its Weight ONE hundred years ago in Paris, the victorious allies were negotiating a treaty to formalise the armistice declared on November 11, 1918. The Little Digger, PM Billy Hughes defended our diggers’ sacrifice. READ...
OPINION – Now’s the time to fix benefits
Thursday 28th Mar 2019
The iniquities in military pensions and superannuation payments has been the subject of intense lobbying for some time by those affected. The response from governments of all persuasions has been rejection, justified with obtuse argument prepared by indifferent...
Opinion – Ross Eastgate – France on the Frontline
Thursday 6th Dec 2018
Disturbing images from Paris this week show French riot police firing on anarchic protesters, the so-called “yellow vests” protesting against their government’s economic policies. Such confronting scenes would not be replicated here – or could they? Australians tend...