Defence

An evacuation flight was delayed for 45 minutes by the prime minister, hours before the airport was bombed.

Following warnings from advocates, Covid-19 has broken out in immigration detention. Imasi Yousef, a stateless asylum seeker, was identified as a close contact of an infected guard. He has been in a windowless room since.

Reports from the ground show people with valid visas were forced back at the airport, amid allegations of a politicised process for claims.

Faced with pandemics, global warming, species extinction and a possible war with China, there is understandable anxiety about the future. Perhaps the hardest question is whether it’s futile to push for new peace initiatives.

In Sydney, a Hazara refugee wakes each morning and waits to hear from his mother in Kabul. He says he is drowning in fear.

As sources describe the ‘chaos’ of Australia’s evacuation from Afghanistan, months of military intelligence failed to forecast the timing or nature of Kabul’s collapse.

As the Taliban takes control of Afghanistan, people connected to the West and trapped in the country describe scenes of fear and violent retribution.

The government’s new security powers have been harshly criticised for overreach and the vagueness of their drafting.

As Australia joins America in war games focused on China, the US-backed Pine Gap surveillance base has undergone its fastest ever expansion.

The government’s appointment of a three-star general to head the vaccine rollout is part of a larger trend that risks politicising the Defence Force.