Archive for July 2026
Rebuilding Rather Than Complaining: Reflections from the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship
By David Maywald Over three days in late June, I joined around 4,000 delegates from more than 100 countries at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference in London. Among them were 1,000 young leaders under the age of 35; a striking reminder that this isn’t simply a gathering of established thinkers, but an investment…
Read MoreDefence’s 184-Page Blueprint: Can Australia Actually Build the Military Industrial Base It Says It Needs?
By Michael Keating | Inside Canberra Australia has released what is arguably its most detailed defence industry blueprint ever produced. Spread across 184 pages—a 106-page Defence Industry Development Strategy, a 78-page technical annex, and supporting fact sheets—the documents represent a fundamental rethink of how Australia intends to design, build, maintain and export military capability over the coming decade.…
Read MoreDefence Overhaul: Conroy Unveils Sweeping Procurement Reforms as Government Targets Delays, Cost Blowouts and Sovereign Capability
By Michael Keating | Inside Canberra Australia’s defence procurement system is set for its biggest structural overhaul in half a century, with Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy using a National Press Club address to announce a series of reforms aimed at reducing cost blowouts, accelerating project delivery and strengthening Australia’s sovereign defence industrial base. While…
Read MoreAustralia Urged to Rethink Africa Strategy as Expert Calls for Deeper Trade, Education and Innovation Links
CANBERRA, July 1 — Australia is failing to capitalise on one of the world’s fastest-growing economic regions, with leading African-Australian academic Professor Mimi Claudine Watts urging Parliament to pursue a far more ambitious engagement strategy built on education, science, business and diaspora leadership. Appearing before the Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade’s…
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