Over the last few weeks, in Australia and the UK, political parties have been dealing with leadership changes. This FlagPost looks at the systems used by those Australian and UK political parties to install their leaders. Read more...
At the 2013 federal election, Australia returned from a ‘hung’ parliament to the historically more usual situation whereby either Labor or the Coalition holds an absolute majority of seats in the House of Representatives. The United Kingdom general election on 7 May 2015 also saw a move from a ‘hung’ parliament, where the Conservatives were in coalition with the Liberal Democrats, to one where the Conservatives will be able to govern in their own right—the first outright majority for the Conservatives since 1992. Read more...
The debate about Australia’s future submarine has focused on who will build it and where it will be constructed. In contrast, the environment in which it will operate has barely been addressed. It is anticipated that the submarine will enter service at some point in the early-to-mid 2030s as the Collins class is phased out, and will be expected to operate for around three decades. However, given that recent analyses of technological trends suggest that undersea warfare (USW) and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) may change dramatically during this timeframe, is Australia’s future submarine destined to become quickly obsolete? Read more...
Beyond the attention assigned to the arrival of Russian naval vessels in the Coral Sea coincident with the G20 meeting in Brisbane in November last year, there has been little public scrutiny of Russia’s recent activities in the Asia-Pacific, and particularly in Southeast Asia. Read more...
Flagpost is a blog on current issues of interest to members of the Australian Parliament
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