Coronavirus
China and the Australian far right
Since the start of the pandemic, China and the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have become a key rallying point for a diverse array of political groups. This includes the…
Can vaccines offer an exit plan from Covid-19?
As recently as six months ago, naysayers were warning, “We may never have a vaccine against Covid-19”. Yet a year after SARS-Cov-2 emerged, the first vaccine programs are already…
Using the Australian Open as a Tokyo test run
Focus on the upcoming Australian Open tennis tournament these last few weeks in the local media has been intense. Still, it’s possible that Olympics officials in Japan are…
Re-evaluating the military’s role in disaster response
Past global economic downturns have usually had a knock-on effect for military budgets, resulting in lower defence spending. After the global financial crisis led to the…
Resisting uncertainty, Malaysia is finding itself
Malaysia is in a quandary, desperately trying to figure out how to resolve political and economic questions.
The fragmentation of the Malaysian market for votes is at a point it…
A very British crisis
Returning to the country of one’s birth is a common experience for many Australians. In the more than 45 years since I first arrived in Australia, though, I have never been more…
What does the arrival of Covid vaccines mean for 2021?
On the eve of 2020, the first case of an unexplained SARS-like pneumonia was noticed in Wuhan. 2021 has begun with vaccines against Covid-19 already approved and mass vaccination…
Covering the Covid shock on The Interpreter in 2020
From the first days in January this year, the question that dominated the outbreak was how upfront Beijing had been about the novel coronavirus that became known as Covid-19. …
The strange connections of isolation
Today, as it has for nine months, the Australian government’s Smartraveller website tells me “do not travel”. Every country on the map is coloured red. To leave the country, I…
Favourites of 2020: Running for nothing?
An end-of-year series as the Lowy Institute staff and Interpreter contributors offer their favourite books, articles, films or TV programs this year. Look back on the series and…