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China's ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian warned that Beijing would have an "obligation to take measures" to protect the interests of Chinese companies if Canberra pushes ahead with a forced sale or otherwise coercive measures to reclaim the Port of Darwin, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported Jan. 28.

China, Australia: Beijing Warns of Retaliation Amid Port of Darwin Dispute

Military & Security

On Jan. 20, Australia passed a fast-tracked package of legislation following the December 2025 Bondi Beach attack, including a national firearms buyback, expanded hate crime and hate speech offenses, new extremist group designation powers and broader visa cancellation authorities, The Australian Financial Review reported the next day.

Australia: Post-Bondi Laws Expand Federal Powers and Fracture the Opposition

United States

U.S. uranium and rare earths company Energy Fuels agreed to acquire Australian Strategic Materials, or ASM, a rare earths mining and processing company, in a deal worth around $300 million paid entirely with Energy Fuels stock, the Financial Times reported on Jan. 21.

U.S., Australia: Rare Earths Deal Advances Non-China Supply Chains, but Execution Risks Loom Large

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recalled parliament two weeks early for a special sitting to rush through sweeping hate speech, extremist group and firearms legislation in response to the Dec. 15, 2025, terrorist attack at Bondi Beach, the Australian Financial Review reported on Jan. 12.

Australia: Parliament Recalled to Fast-Track Post-Bondi Legislation

Following a National Security Committee meeting, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese unveiled five legal changes strengthening rules on hate speech offenses, sentencing and organizational listing power, alongside expanded visa rejection criteria and authority for the Department of Home Affairs, the Australian Financial Review reported on Dec. 18. 

Australia: Albanese Moves To Toughen Hate Speech Laws

Two armed men, a father and son, opened fire on crowds attending a Hanukkah event near Bondi Beach in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, Australia, on Dec. 14 in what authorities deemed an antisemitic terrorist attack, according to multiple sources.

Australia: Antisemitic Violence Turns Fatal With Mass Shooting at Hanukkah Event

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The U.S. Trump administration plans to sign the Pax Silica Declaration with Australia, Japan, Israel, Singapore and South Korea on Dec. 12, forming a coalition designed to counter China's control of critical minerals and its growing clout in the artificial intelligence sector, Politico reported the same day.

Global: U.S., Five Others To Sign Pax Silica Declaration in a Bid To Counter China in CRMs, AI

Afghanistan

Australia imposed financial sanctions and a travel ban on Afghanistan's minister of virtue and vice, minister of higher education, minister of justice and chief justice for alleged complicity in oppressing women and girls as well as minority groups in Afghanistan, among other offenses, according to a statement Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade released on Dec. 6. 

Australia, Afghanistan: Australia Sanctions Afghan Taliban Officials Over Alleged Human Rights Concerns

Assessments

The Australian flag flies at half mast over Parliament House on Jan. 22, 2026, in Melbourne, Australia, to honor the victims of the Bondi shootings.

Passed in response to the Bondi Beach attack, the legislation will likely fuel legal and federal-state friction, deepen opposition fragmentation and entrench security policy as a persistent fault line in Australian politics.

The Political Impact of Australia's Gun Reform and Anti-Hate Bills

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Flight routes.

Cyber

As 2026 approaches, we look back at the previous year and consider the top five patterns and trends as measured by geopolitical impact.

2025: A Geopolitical Review

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (left) and U.S. President Donald Trump speak to reporters during a bilateral meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House on Oct. 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. 

Trump and Albanese agreed to tighten defense and supply chain integration as a way to reduce their countries' reliance on China, but industrial bottlenecks mean implementation will be slow.

U.S.-Australia Leadership Summit Yields Critical Minerals Pact, AUKUS Reaffirmation

U.S. President Donald Trump (R) and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Aug. 15, 2025, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. Delegations from the United States and Russia, including U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov, respectively, will meet this week to resume conversations about their countries' bilateral relationship and the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Israel-Hamas Conflict

Russia-Ukraine Conflict

A look at what the coming week will bring -- and a list of recommended RANE articles from the week that was.

The Weekly Rundown: U.S. and Russian Delegations Meet, a Still-Fragile Hamas-Israel Ceasefire 

France

United Kingdom

Dignitaries attend a U.N. Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the question of Palestinian statehood, during the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 23, 2025, in New York City. 

Western countries' growing recognition of Palestinian statehood is largely symbolic and will likely galvanize Israel's push for West Bank annexation, risking further Israeli diplomatic isolation abroad and sporadic violence at home.

The West's Growing Support for Palestinian Statehood Will Have Limited Concrete Impacts

Guyana

The President of the 80th session of the U.N. General Assembly and former German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock speaks during a General Assembly meeting to vote on a two-state solution to the Palestinian question on Sept. 12 at the United Nations in New York. Countries including Australia, Canada, France and the United Kingdom will likely formally recognize Palestinian statehood over the next several days at the assembly.

The Weekly Rundown: Western Countries Recognize Palestine, the EU Discusses a 'Drone Wall'

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks during a luncheon at Parliament House in Canberra on June 17, 2024. 

The Australian prime minister's efforts to stabilize relations with Beijing will yield short-term economic benefits, but rising regional security concerns will ultimately limit long-term engagement.

The Challenges Facing Albanese's Bid to Reset China-Australia Relations

Germany

U.S. President Donald Trump on April 24 in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington. In an interview July 10, U.S. President Donald Trump suggested he would "have a major statement to make on Russia on Monday," perhaps representing a shift in his administration's policy.

The Weekly Rundown: Trump Speaks on Ukraine, Sweeping EU Budget Reform

A photo taken in Tehran, Iran, on June 26, 2025, shows an Iranian political banner hanging near the remains of a residential building struck by an Israeli attack. 

Global Trade

U.S.-Iran Relations

The Weekly Rundown: Fragile Iran-Israel Ceasefire Holds, U.S. Tariff Deadline Approaches

Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles and British Defense Secretary John Healey sit together for the AUKUS Defense Ministers Meeting at Old Royal Naval College on Sept. 26, 2024, in London, England.

Despite growing U.S. skepticism, strong imperatives to counter China's maritime presence will likely lead Washington to see a revised version of the AUKUS defense pact through.

U.S. Review of AUKUS Pillar I Puts Pact on Shaky Ground

Media

Podcasts

How will Australian foreign policy change in the coming years?

Essential Geopolitics: The Future of Australia's Political Landscape

Snapshots

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton concedes defeat during a Liberal Party election night event on May 3, 2025, in Brisbane, Australia. 

The collapse of the center-right Liberal-National Coalition (LNC) will grant the ruling Labor Party freer rein to implement energy transition, industrial investment and fiscal reform policies.

Collapse of Australia's Conservative Coalition Reshapes Political Landscape, Further Empowers Labor

Australia is an island nation straddling the Indian Ocean basin and the South Pacific. Once a colony of the United Kingdom, the country began a move toward independence in 1901. Today, the Commonwealth of Australia encompasses the mainland of the Australian continent, Tasmania and more than 8,000 other islands in the continent’s surrounding waters.    Australia’s interior, known as the Outback, is mostly desert. This largely uninhabitable area is home to Australia’s iron and coal reserves, among the world’s largest. Mining has grown in importance for the Australian economy and remains a key driver of future economic growth.    The Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane corridor forms the population core along the fertile South Eastern coastline, while the capital Canberra is situated in the interior near the Murray-Darling River System. The Murray-Darling Basin is Australia's agricultural heartland but is cut off from the core by the mountains of the Great Dividing Range.     Australia's main geographic challenge is managing its isolation and small population, which is stretched thinly along its coasts. These factors affect almost all domestic and foreign policy decisions. Distance and isolation mean that Australia relies heavily on shipping lanes for its economic security. This has led Australia to build close alliances with global maritime powers — first the United Kingdom and later the United States — to protect its access to ocean trade as well as deter attacks from other powers.     Increasingly, Canberra must balance its strategic, military and cultural ties to the United States and Europe with greater economic integration with East and Southeast Asia, and especially China — its largest trading partner.

The U.S. and the Balance of Power

Commodities: A Cautionary Tale

China in Transition

SITUATION REPORTS

China, Australia: Beijing Warns of Retaliation Amid Port of Darwin Dispute

Australia: Post-Bondi Laws Expand Federal Powers and Fracture the Opposition

U.S., Australia: Rare Earths Deal Advances Non-China Supply Chains, but Execution Risks Loom Large

Australia: Parliament Recalled to Fast-Track Post-Bondi Legislation

Australia: Albanese Moves To Toughen Hate Speech Laws

Australia: Antisemitic Violence Turns Fatal With Mass Shooting at Hanukkah Event

Global: U.S., Five Others To Sign Pax Silica Declaration in a Bid To Counter China in CRMs, AI

Australia, Afghanistan: Australia Sanctions Afghan Taliban Officials Over Alleged Human Rights Concerns

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