APSNet 29 April 2010

1. Secret plan to boost spying
2. Loud and proud: two leaders speaking up for Australia
3. Come clean on navy, Faulkner urges China
4. Enough bang for the defence buck
5. The new Middle East
6. Peter Garrett rejects International Whaling Commission compromise on whaling
7. People smuggling proposals blasted
8. Money laundering and terrorism financing risks posed by alternative remittance in Australia

1. Secret plan to boost spying, Dan Oakes, Age, 2010-04-28

Defence intelligence officers would get increased powers to tap phones within Australia, and ASIO officers would be allowed to carry weapons, under controversial proposals contained in a secret review of the nation’s intelligence services.

• Learning to walk amongst giants: the new defence white paper, Ross Babbage, Security Challenges, vol. 4, no. 1, 2008

2. Loud and proud: two leaders speaking up for Australia, Peter Hartcher, SMH, 2010-04-27

The national political leadership has reached a new level of confidence in asserting Australia’s place in the world. In a pair of remarkable speeches, Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott have each demonstrated a strong, independent sense of how Australian values should govern foreign policy.

• Australia and China in the world, Kevin Rudd, 2010 Morrison Lecture, Australian National University, Canberra, 2010-04-23
• National security fundamentals, Tony Abbott, Address to the Lowy Institute, Sydney, 2010-04-23, [PDF, 116KB]
• Abbott’s ‘Anglosphere’ looks to the past, Daniel Flitton, Age, SMH, 2010-04-27

3. Come clean on navy, Faulkner urges China, Brendan Nicholson, Australian, 2010-04-29

China must be open and transparent about why it is rapidly expanding its naval forces, says Defence Minister John Faulkner. US officials have warned that Chinese naval expansion is happening much more rapidly than had been expected, with plans for new nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers giving Beijing the power to extend its military might far from its shores.

• Chinese military seeks to extend its naval power, Edward Wong, NYT, 2010-04-23
• China’s maritime strategic agenda, Chris Rahman, ASPI, 2010-04-28

4. Enough bang for the defence buck, Brian Toohey, AFR*, 2010-04-23

Existing and planned acquisitions mean that Australian Defence Force personnel will have weaponry that their predecessors in two world wars and in the Korean and Vietnam wars would envy.
*[Subscription required]

5. The new Middle East, Anthony Bubalo, Lowy Institute, 2010-04-28 [PDF, 438KB]

The paper explores two major changes that are creating a new Middle East: the end of American hegemony; and the economic and strategic reconnection of the Middle East to Asia. It explores some of the implications of this shift for Australian international policy, against the background of continuing community ambivalence toward the Middle East and to those issues that are part of the Middle East security equation, most notably, Afghanistan.

6. Peter Garrett rejects International Whaling Commission (IWC) compromise on whaling, Joe Kelly, Australian, 2010-04-29

Australian diplomacy will be tested as the Rudd government scrambles to muster support for a fresh push to end so-called scientific whaling in the Southern Ocean. Environment Protection Minister Peter Garrett has rejected a compromise plan by the International Whaling Commission that would allow some whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

• Whaling commission proposes permission to hunt under strict quotas, AP, Guardian, 2010-04-23

7. People smuggling proposals blasted, Yuko Narushima, Age, 2010-04-28 

A modern-day Oskar Schindler would be jailed for up 10 years under the Rudd government’s proposed crackdown on people smuggling, lawyers say. In largely unscrutinised changes, backed by the opposition, the government is introducing new criminal charges for supporting people smugglers, even unwittingly.

8. Money laundering and terrorism financing risks posed by alternative remittance in Australia, David Rees, Australian Institute of Criminology, 2010-04

The events of 11 September 2001 have heightened interest in ensuring that all sectors of the financial system are not misused either by criminal or terrorist groups. In addition to conventional banks, money and value can be transferred by alternative remittance providers who have, until recently, not been closely regulated. Regulators are concerned that the informal nature of these businesses may lead to their use by terrorist groups and other criminals.