JAMES ROYCE WRITES — Indonesia has long been the premier year-round vacation destination for millions of traveling Australians, especially among those looking to escape high-alcohol prices and expensive party lifestyles in their native home country. From Sydney Airport, a flight from from Sydney Airport to Ngurah Rai International Airport in…
Former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating (1991-1996, pictured right) offers a crystal-clear vision of China’s rise in Asia in a deeply thought-provoking interview with Kerry O’Brien, one of Australia’s most respected journalists. The hour-long radio session with the highly informed, forward-thinking Keating, now 72, covers a valuable range of topics,…
JAMES ROYCE WRITES — Chinese state-run media has recently gone out of its way to label Australia as “an ideal target for China to warn and strike,” if it ventures into the continually-contested South China Sea. The Global Times, known for its hardline nationalist stance, blasted Canberra early last month…
JAMES ROYCE WRITES — After one of the longest election campaigns in national history, fittingly concluded with a week-long results-counting cliff hanger, Australia is welcoming back Malcolm Turnbull as its 29th prime minister. Despite running both a widely criticized and altogether lackluster campaign, Turnbull and his Coalition successfully scraped back…
JAMES ROYCE WRITES —You’d think Australia — a rich, resourceful, forward-thinking country surrounded by Asian neighbors — would have broadband speeds comparable to or better than most. Sadly you’d think wrong. It wasn’t quite enough of an issue to push the ruling coalition out of power in Australia’s recent federal…
MERLIN EVANS WRITES – A US Presidential election victory for Donald Trump could force Australia to more than double its defense budget. A former defense official who now heads the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), Peter Jennings, warned the reduction in US involvement in Asia that Trump proposes would force the…
JAMES ROYCE WRITES — Unless you have spent the last couple months under a rock, you’ve been keeping up with, or at least have heard about, the wild presidential election currently going on within the United States. And although Australia’s capital of Canberra is located more than 16,000 kilometers away…
JAMES ROYCE WRITES — A bad day of surfing might be better than a good day of working, but Australian surf wear brand Rip Curl is experiencing neither of these pleasures after admitting to using factories in North Korea, where work conditions are reminiscent of slave labor, to create the…
JAMES ROYCE WRITES — Cracking open a cold one is a beloved tradition down under, but one U.S. man is calling into question the Aussie integrity of Foster’s lager. Leif Nelson, a self-proclaimed New York City beer aficionado, has filed a lawsuit against Miller Brewing Co. in U.S. District Court.…
JAMES ROYCE WRITES – Cities like Tokyo, Beijing and Seoul have long fought to attract technology funders, firms and talent. But there’s a new kid on the block, and it woos with an Aussie accent. Melbourne, Australia used to be internationally recognized solely for being the most ‘livable’ city in…
JAMES ROYCE WRITES — Piracy rates in Australia have dropped in recent months, and the introduction of Netflix this March might be the culprit. The video streaming giant sees itself as a key competitor to the many pirate sites and services that offer video content illegally around the world. By…
JAMES ROYCE WRITES – Australian Al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste may have been freed from Egyptian prison last February, but his name was not present on a list of 100 pardons released by Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi earlier this week. The decision made by President Sisi came a day…
KAYLA DE BONDT WRITES – The Australian high court has cleared the way for a Sydney radio station to face charges for an on-air stunt which ultimately led to the suicide of a pranked nurse. In the process, the court backed the power of the country’s media watchdog to identify criminal…
AMBER VERNETTI WRITES- At a conference in Washington D.C. last week, Australian Attorney General George Brandis announced an $18 million program that will fight pro-terrorist websites by closely observing social media sites that promote terrorist ideals. Following the theme of the summit, “countering violent extremism,” this program, dubbed Combating Terrorist…
AMBER VERNETTI WRITES- This week Australia celebrated 2015’s Australia Day, a national holiday which commemorates the 1788 arrival of British ships at Port Jackson in New South Wales and the raising of the Flag of Great Britain under Governor Arthur Phillip. In celebration of this day, awards and appointments to…
AMBER VERNETTI WRITES– In preparation for the 2014 Group of 20 (G20) Summit held in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland in Australia, Chinese hackers allegedly hacked into Australian media corporations to collect information about the Summit’s possible discussion topics. This group, referred to as Deep Panda, hacks into systems with…
