Australia is under increasing threat from right-wing terrorism, and to properly combat it we need to understand it and offer better alternatives for those drawn to it.
Detention camps in Syria hold about 100,000 Syrian and foreign family members of IS suspects.
Murtaja Lateef/EPA
The Morrison government has shown no enthusiasm for repatriating the family members of IS fighters. But as other nations bring back their own fighters, Australia may find itself forced to act.
‘It is inevitable that Australia will make more decisions that China doesn’t like,’ said Penny Wong.
Joel Carrett/AAP
Focusing on China policy in a Monday address - released ahead of delivery - Penny Wong says Australia needs to ‘define the boundaries’ of its engagement with China as the relationship is in a new phase.
The government gutted the ranks of experienced decision-makers and made organisational changes that undermined the quality of its decisions.
AAP/James Gourley
They’ve been branded as anarchists and ‘fringe-dwellers’, but do Extinction Rebellion protesters really warrant such drastic reactions?
Australia has enacted 20 new anti-terror laws since 2014. Several more bills have been introduced by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton and are now before parliament.
James Ross/AAP
Australia now has one of the most comprehensive ranges of anti-terrorism laws of any Western democracy. It’s time to think creatively about solutions, rather than continually reworking old strategies.
The government faces volleys of anger from some noisy and many (usually) quiet Australians.
Ellen Smith/AAP
As the Sri Lankan Tamil family from Biloela prepares to learn their fate tomorrow, Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton can’t avoid looking threadbare in terms of humanity.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton appears to have backed down from his previous hardline position on AFP raids and press freedom.
AAP/Sam Mooy
While the ministerial direction represents a genuflection in the direction of press freedom, it provides nothing by way of protection for whistleblowers.
Peter Dutton has issued “ministerial direction” to the AFP over investigating leaks to the media.
DARREN ENGLAND/AAP
Federal home affairs minister Peter Dutton says the government’s “expectation” is that federal police should consider the importance of press freedom before investigating leaks to journalists.
Australian Signals Directorate boss Mike Burgess is named the new head of ASIO.
Darren England/AAP
Mike Burgess, previously head of the Australian Signals Directorate, has a solid history in the intelligence area and Labor has welcomed the choice.
The creation of the Home Affairs department means that complex and sometimes competing security and law enforcement priorities now have a strategic policy home.
Wes Mountain/The Conversation
Similar concerns were raised 40 years ago when the Department of Defence was formed, but the decision to merge several agencies is now held up for its strategic vision.
Jacinda Adern said the issue was having a ‘corrosive’ effect on Australia’s relationship with her country, and that Australia should not take the closeness of the relationship for granted.
Julian Smith/AAP
Australia already has an extensive suite of anti-terrorism legislation, and the government hasn’t clarified what gap, if any, this new bill would fill.
Had Peter Dutton won the 2018 leadership ballot and become prime minister, the governor-general may have had some tricky legal arguments on his hands.
AAP/Ellen Smith
The Constitution says that the governor-general can only act to fill a vacancy in the prime ministership if there is one - but in this case, some complex questions would have arisen.
Malcolm Turnbull took to Twitter on Thursday, reigniting his battle with Christian Porter.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull clashes with Attorney-General Christian Porter.
The medevac law was passed to streamline the process for emergency medical evacuation of refugees from Manus Island and Nauru. Thirty-one people have been transferred since its passage.
Refugee Action Coalition
With parliament sitting next week, the home affairs minister is pressuring Labor to support a repeal of the medevac law. But the law has worked just as it was intended.
Senator Cory Bernardi announced this week that he will be winding up his party, the Australian Conservatives, following a lacklustre vote at the 2019 federal election.
Lukas Coch/AAP
Leigh Sullivan speaks with Michelle Grattan about the week in politics.
Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton speaking to the media in Brisbane last month about a recent interception of an asylum seeker boat.
Dan Peled/AAP
Australians should be concerned about any shift to an intelligence model that is based on the introduction of greater powers on the one hand, and less oversight and governance on the other.