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Written by Allan Behm, Advisor to The Australia Institute’s International & Security Affairs program, New Game New Rules says Australia has the potential to be a critical player in bringing peace and prosperity in uncertain times – if it could escape its dependence on the US.

With the subtitle, A Foreign Policy for Dystopian Times, the book argues that Donald Trump’s trashing of the rules based order is an opportunity for Australia to step up and use its power for good.

However, it characterises the foreign policies of recent Australian governments as “reactive and responsive”, lacking confidence and ambition in a strategically contested world.

“Far from being a middle power, Australia is a very substantial power,” said Allan Behm.

“Australia has a great history of peacekeeping and diplomacy. APEC is a beautiful example of what happens when you do exercise your power and create something with it.

“Doc Evatt played a major part in the creation of the UN. Gough Whitlam outlined a vision for embracing Asia which is as relevant today as it was in 1974. Malcolm Fraser stood up to South African apartheid.

“But in recent years Australia’s foreign policy has become unbelievably ordinary. It’s characterised by leaders repeating meaningless phrases like “sovereign ready”, which means absolutely nothing.

The Prime Minister said he wants to promote ‘progressive patriotism’ – but his policies tell a different story. In this episode of What’s the Point?, Richard explains the dangers of centrism and what progressive politics actually looks like.

More Fool Me: How the gas industry tricked Australia by Richard Denniss, the latest Vantage Point essay from Australia Institute Press, is available now.

Use the code ‘FOOLME’ on a four-edition Vantage Point subscription to receive a free copy of Richard’s book, Econobabble.

Dead Centre: How political pragmatism is killing us by Richard Denniss is available now.

Read more on The Point. 

Host: Richard Denniss, co-Chief Executive Officer, the Australia Institute // @richarddenniss

On this episode of After America, lawyer and advocate Rawan Arraf joins Dr Emma Shortis to discuss the Red Lines Package, the decision of the United Kingdom and others to sanction illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, and the future of international law.

This episode was recorded on Friday 18 September.

Join Emma and Allan Behm for the Melbourne launch of Allan’s new book, New Game New Rules: A foreign policy for dystopian times at 6pm on Tuesday 22 September.

Guest: Rawan Arraf, Executive Director & Principal Lawyer, Australian Centre for International Justice // @rawanarraf

Host: Emma Shortis, Director, International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute // @emmashortis

Show notes:

Red Lines Package

New Game, New Rules: A foreign policy for dystopian times by Allan Behm, the Australia Institute (August 2026)

AI companies want to regulate their open-source competitors out of existence and regulate themselves into riches. We do not usually think of innovative private companies inviting government regulation of their own industry, but that is exactly what is happening in AI.

Concerns about the pace of AI development have existed since the technology entered public awareness in late 2022. Early fears about AI’s economic impact focused largely on job losses for writers and coders and its effects on writing instruction. More recently, as major AI platforms have rolled out agents—AI bots that can be given a task and carry it out over an extended period—the focus has shifted.

What if the bots carry out a cyberattack? What if they are given instructions and the user forgets to tell them to stop? What if they gain access to the nuclear codes? We have not yet reached the point where people are worried about AI turning the universe into paperclips. We are, however, already in a situation where Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei felt the need to publish an essay, “We Must Pace the Frontier,” in which he announced, “We must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models.”

At the heart of economic geography debates in Latin America on dependency theory was an immediate tension between those that focused on dependency and an undetermined marginalisation and those that instantly spotlighted that this focus on marginality in dependent societies was being set adrift from any mooring in relation to class contradictions.

Key points:

• NSW Police firearm statistics show that just 100 individuals own a total of 13,470 guns between them, or 135 guns each on average (NSW Firearms Registry: Table 2.2).
• A single individual in Sydney’s inner north owns 371 guns.
• Of the top 100 gun owners in NSW, 41 of them live in urban postcodes.
• Australia Institute research shows that over 200,000 gun licensees are giving misleading information or failing to update their gun licence conditions.

“These numbers show that Australia has been complacent on gun control for too long,” said Rod Campbell, Research Director at The Australia Institute.

“Police statistics show that there are large private arsenals being held in urban areas, a major risk to public safety.

“There are more guns in Australia now than at any point in the country’s history, including before the Port Arthur massacre.

“Australians expect their gun laws to keep them safe, and the proposed reforms of capping gun ownership and a buyback of excess guns in NSW are good places to start.”

Everybody’s Home said the federal government’s Intergenerational Report has failed to consider the challenges and opportunities to make renting a viable, affordable option for future generations. 

The government’s 2026 report puts home ownership at the centre of its housing focus, but Everybody’s Home said the report is missing real opportunities to improve rental affordability including further increases to social housing and nationally coordinated limits on rent increases. 

“This Intergenerational Report fails to address the need to improve the experience of renters and make renting a viable, affordable option for future generations,” Everybody’s Home spokesperson James Hall said.

“The purpose of the Intergenerational Report is to identify the major challenges and opportunities for future generations to inform better policy making. The housing challenge we face is not only to boost home ownership. The real test is whether every person can access a home that is affordable, secure and safe. That means the millions of Australians who are renting, on the lowest incomes, and experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced his government’s intention to privatize Canada’s airports at the Canada Investment Summit convened in Toronto on September 15, 2026. The Summit brought together CEOs and financiers from around the world to raise capital financing for so-called “nation building” major projects across Canada in commodities, trade and digital infrastructure.

Airport privatization was also one of the major announcements made at the Summit, and it appears to have raised the eyebrows of many, including those in the travel industry, among government caucus members, and among Canada’s labour unions. With precise timing, the week before this Investment Summit announcement, the Canadian Labour Congress released a new report entitled: Public Runways, Private Profits: Why Airport Privatization Would be Risky and Costly for Canadians.

This article was read by Eunice Wong. You can find her work at www.eunicewong.actor.

Text originally published September 12, 2026.