My book review appears in today’s Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age: Imagine a weapon so powerful that it makes every person on the planet with a mobile phone potentially vulnerable. It isn’t a scammer or traditional hacker but a new, much more virulent form of intrusion that takes control of all your personal information…
Articles in The Age
Time for new, brave leadership in the Jewish community over Israel/Palestine
My story appears in yesterday’s Melbourne Age in print and online and Sydney Morning Herald online: After the Albanese government recently announced that it would no longer recognise West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, returning Canberra to the global consensus after Scott Morrison’s 2018 decision to imitate Donald Trump, the Jewish establishment expressed outrage.…
“August in Kabul” is compelling book on Afghanistan
My book review in the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age: AFGHANISTAN August in Kabul Andrew Quilty MUP, $34.99 Matthieu Aikins is a journalist who has spent extended periods in Afghanistan, including stints with The New York Times. Early this year, he told The Columbia Journalism Review that his whole profession had often failed when…
The forgotten Iranian refugees trapped on Nauru
Investigation in the Sydney Morning Herald/Melbourne Age… co-written with Saba Vasefi (with more details, photos and letters): On the first day of the year in Nauru, Iranian refugee Bita* sent a damning letter to the Australian Border Force (ABF) accusing it of “barbarism”. She had been refused resettlement in the United States and demanded an end…
The strange case of alleged sexual predator Malka Leifer in Israel
My investigation in the Sydney Morning Herald/Melbourne Age: The legal pursuit in Israel of alleged sexual predator Malka Leifer took a strange turn this week. As she fought extradition attempts by Victoria Police over 74 charges of child sexual abuse, the 54-year-old first gained, then lost the support of influential Rabbi Yitzchak Dovid Grossman. Grossman…
Growing corruption scandal around Netanyahu and weird connection with James Packer
My story in today’s Sydney Morning Herald/Melbourne Age: Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is in trouble, and it partly stems from his close relationship with Australia’s most recognisable billionaire, James Packer. The country’s second longest-serving Prime Minister is facing potential charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust after an extensive investigation by Israeli police.…
Australia's ambition to become global arms dealer
My major investigation in the Melbourne Age/Sydney Morning Herald on Australia’s surging defence industry: This year’s Avalon Air Show in Geelong was the first chance for the public to see the long-delayed Joint Strike Fighter in action. At a cost of at least $100 million per aircraft, Canberra is slated to spend $17 billion on…
Private companies making a fortune from asylum seekers
My following piece appears in the Melbourne Age today: In 2005, Labor’s then immigration spokesman Tony Burke said detention centres for asylum seekers must never be run by private companies. “You shouldn’t have a situation”, he said, “where the level of supervision and the standard of care has anything to do with the private profits…
Taking the measure of the heat in Gaza
My following book review appeared in Saturday’s Melbourne Age: Gaza: Morality, Law and Politics Edited by Raimond Gaita University of Western Australia Publishing, $29.95 Raimond Gaita’s collection tries to analyse a contentious conflict, writes Antony Loewenstein. MONTHS after the release of the UN-backed Goldstone report that found alleged war crimes by both Israel and Hamas…
The Age on Google’s move highlights the role of China’s censors
My following article is published today in the Melbourne Age: About 100 Chinese citizens gathered outside Google’s Beijing office this week to sing the popular tune Grass Mud Horse. They paid their respects to the web giant after it announced the closure of its censored Chinese search engine and redirected users to a Hong Kong-based…