What is our military hiding from the media?A Dateline journo reporting on the war in Afghanistan, John Martinkus, was repeatedly denied access to Australian military or embraced so whole heartedly that no just reporting could occur. What is the ADF trying to hide?
Australian defence force
Admiral Barrie: Let’s talk conscription
As Australia’s population ages, our armed forces will struggle more and more to find willing recruits. So why not a few unwilling ones? suggests former ADF chief Admiral Chris Barrie.
Tips and rumours: Pay cuts in the Army Reserve?
Crikey’s tipsters today send in word on the street about Anna Bligh’s unfortunate school evacuation moment, KPMG’s nuclear-powered report and pay cuts in the defence forces.
War no longer a battle of the sexes
After Greg Combet’s comments about allowing women on the front line, the defence force should prepare itself for a “seismic shift”. War will no longer be secret men’s business, writes Rebecca Wilson.
East Timor: billions given but poverty remains
Billions spent on East Timor’s U.N nation building effort may have helped preserve the peace, but most of the money went to international security forces, not to the Timorese economy or its people.
Military court brought down by a balls up
Australia’s top military court has been ruled constitutionally invalid, leaving 170 cases in question and the military justice system in disarray — and it was all brought down over a pair of testicles.
Australia’s coastline defence: one submarine
Don’t tell Indonesia: the Australian Navy has just one of six Collins Craft subs left in service.
White Paper budget increase high enough to induce nose bleeds
Rudd’s Defence White Paper will rely on the rise of China to fund our defence against the, erm, rise of China.
Defence spending boosted to 20-year high
Despite the economic downturn, the Australian armed forces’ budget is expected to rise to almost $24 billion this year, the highest level in 20 years.
Joel Fitzgibbon vs the mysterious men and women of the Australian Defence Force
Deep in the secret bowels of the Defence Department…
Mission to Afghanistan: keeping the least worst warlord in power
Overwhelming military power coupled with a vague confidence in our benevolence doesn’t usually end up so well, writes Jeff Sparrow.
The last, no really, word on Wilfred Burchett
The issue of Wilfred Burchett is not merely a matter of political differences, it instead involves defining the boundary between lawful dissent and treachery, writes Neil James.
Beware of the stinky Norwegian Ludefisk, Mr Combet
Why does Combets believe criticism of the high risk F-35 program is “misguided and unfounded”? asks Eric L Palmer.
F-35: Untested, two years late and $15 billion more
Most of what the public has been hearing from Defence in relation to the F-35 is nothing more than marketing spin, writes Eric L Palmer.
The blue-sky marketing madness of the F-35
Australia and the Department of Spendthrift Defence, can’t afford this gold plated and unproven wonder, writes Eric L Palmer.
Stealth, the big con
The Defence establishment wants your hard earned tax dollars, and they will do anything to sustain the lifestyle they have become so accustomed to, writes Eric L. Palmer.
Defence is hush-hush about future fighter jet noise
The Defence community isn’t being honest about the F-35 to the Australian public, writes Eric L Palmer.
What Defence didn’t tell about the Joint Strike Fighter
Aircraft range and payload matter — the greater these are, the better, and the same goes for missiles, writes Peter Goon.
Reporting on Afghanistan: media v the military
The Australian military’s intolerance of independent reporting reflects a deeper anxiety that has its origins in the media management challenges posed by a long war, writes Kevin Foster.
Afghan dog pen demeans us and emboldens the insurgents
Joel Fitzgibbon should apologise for this breach of human rights by Australian soldiers, writes Keysar Trad.
Black Hawk down: Cowboys at the controls
The official report into the Black Hawk helicopter crash into the deck of HMAS Kanimbla in November 2006 spotlights a culture of slack safety standards in the Australian Army’s 171st Aviation Squadron, writes Alex Mitchell.
Tips and rumours
The rumour out Bennelong way is that the Exclusive Brethren have given their members special permission to vote at this election. Might at the very least help John Howard’s salvation locally.
In contrast to the experiences of other ex-pats regarding absentee voting, the High Commission in Wellington New Zealand were well prepared and I voted […]
APEC: Sydney, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet…
We’re still a month away from the APEC summit, but disgruntled Sydney residents have so far tolerated the noise of Black Hawks passing over the city, had their Lord Mayor encourage everyone pack emergency ‘go-bags’ complete with radios and energy bars and had their hospital services cut back.
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In Maningrida, fear is the real emergency
In the remote township of Maningrida in central Arnhem land the lack of communication from the federal government over its national emergency plan has led to unnecessary instability and fear and may well ensure the plan’s intended positive results become unachievable, writes Bill Fogarty.
