There are two states that have the most to gain, and the most to lose, when it comes to AUKUS: South Australia and Western Australia. In the final episode of AUKUS Investigated Hamish and Geraldine speak to South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas about why he thinks the rest of the country needs to come to the AUKUS party. 

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AUKUS doesn't only affect us. From the time that it was announced there were mixed reactions from our neighbours - some who wanted in, and some who thought it unwise and provocative. A big part of the fear - both regionally and within Australia - concerns the nuclear question. As the first non-nuclear country to ever acquire a conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarine, can we be confident of our own safety? And what happens to the waste that will remain dangerous for generations of Australians to come? 

*Correction: An earlier version of this caption suggested that Australia is acquiring a nuclear weapon, which is incorrect. The caption has been updated to reflect that Australia is acquiring conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarines. 

GUESTS:

Gareth Evans - former Australian Foreign Minister (1988 –1996).

Maria Rost Rublee - Associate Professor of International Relations at Monash University, with expertise in international security and nuclear politics.

Dr Evan Laksmana - Senior Fellow for Southeast Asia Military Modernisation at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

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Former Prime Minister Paul Keating has said of AUKUS that "we don't need to be a pair of shoes hanging out of America's backside". Is that a fair characterisation of Australia's position vis a vis AUKUS? Are we getting the short end of the stick with this deal, and sacrificing our sovereignty to boot? 

GUESTS:

Sam Roggeveen - Director of the Lowy Institute’s International Security Program. He is the author of The Echidna Strategy: Australia’s Search for Power and Peace

Malcolm Turnbull - 29th Prime Minister of Australia 2015-2018.

Richard Marles - the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, Minister for Defence and the Federal Member for Corio.

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In this episode Hamish and Geraldine examine the strategic thinking behind AUKUS. If China has undertaken the most rapid military expansion of any country since WWII, how does the AUKUS pact factor into Beijing's thinking? And does a plan that ties us more closely to the United States make us more or less safe?

GUESTS:

Zhou Bo – Senior Colonel (Ret.) of China's People's Liberation Army, is Senior Fellow at the Center for International Security and Strategy, Tsinghua University. 

Vice Admiral Mark Hammond - Chief of the Royal Australian Navy.

Hugh Jeffrey - Deputy Secretary Strategy, Policy, and Industry, Department of Defence

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The plan for us to acquire nuclear submarines has been dubbed the 'Optimal Pathway', but achieving it will be no mean feat. In this episode we explore what the scheme involves, what the key challenges are to making it work, and we get some cold hard facts about what it is really going to cost us. 

GUESTS:

Jennifer Parker - expert associate at the national security college ANU, an adjunct fellow at UNSW, and associate fellow at the Council on Geostrategy.

Vice Admiral Peter Jones - a retired senior officer in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), who served as the Chief Capability Development Group (CCDG) from 2011 until his retirement in October 2014.

Vice Admiral Jonathan Mead - the inaugural Director-General of the Australian Submarine Agency.

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In a special mini-series, Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald get the answers to all your burning questions about AUKUS. 

In this first episode, we investigate how AUKUS came about - who spoke to who, what the true motivation was for going nuclear and whether the total secrecy around the deal was justified. 

GUESTS:

 Andrew Fowler - investigative journalist and author of Nuked: The Submarine Fiasco that Sank Australia’s Sovereignty (MUP), which won the 2024 Walkley Book Award.

Scott Morrison - 30th Prime Minister of Australia, now Non-Executive Vice Chairman of the US-headquartered advisory and consulting firm American Global Strategies LLC and member of several advisory boards, including the DYNE Strategic Advisory Board.

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2024 has been an extraordinary year in terms of global affairs. And as we try to wind down, events internationally have been ramping up.

Global Roaming's inaugural year has been packed, and we thank our audience for being so engaged. This episode we highlight some of those moments and look back at what an incredible year it's been around the world.

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A short bonus episode where Geraldine and Hamish discuss the shock fall of Damascus, and the rest of Syria, to opposition group Hayat Tahir al-Sham. The hardline Sunni Islamic group has its roots in Al Qaeda but has refined its image to be more moderate. With Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and family getting asylum in Russia, Syrians around the world are celebrating. But what happens next?

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Hamish: New Yorker: How Syria became the Middle East's drug dealer

Geraldine:  Firas Maksad with the Middle East Institute

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When Hamish visited Finland he met up with Finland's Minister of Education Anders Adlercreutz - although unfortunately not in a sauna.

But they do discuss the importance of saunas in keeping Finnish society egalitarian. And of course its focus on public education. Finland takes a holistic approach that gives teachers freedom and flexibility to teach multiple subjects together - a lesson might include maths, geography and art. Schools also focus on creativity, play and practical skills but don't test until the final years. And now the curriculum includes lessons on decoding fake news and assessing online sources for reliability.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

When Anders Adlercreutz’s cello performance of a patriotic Ukrainian song was widely shared it attracted backlash from Russian officials.

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Why is Germany in a bit of a funk? How did the superstar of Europe go so far off the rails - even the German trains aren't running on time.

Germany is governed by a three party centre-left coalition that's in disarray, a snap election has been called for February, and polls show the main ruling SPD party is set to suffer a big loss. Meanwhile, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) is the second most popular party.

Tobias Cremer is a German member of the European Parliament and he’s with the SPD party. But he was only elected a few months back so still has several years in parliament, at least. Tobias also has an interesting background researching the relationship between religion, secularisation and the rise of right-wing identity politics throughout western societies.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Geraldine:  The Granddaughter By Bernhard Schlink

Hamish:  The Quiet German feature in The New Yorker 

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