This paper, by Professor Brendan Sargeant, explores the idea of ‘strategic imagination’ - a way of understanding how a country thinks about its place in the world.

This paper argues that the United States and Australia must leverage their strong relationship to deepen existing partnerships, build nascent strategic ties, and find new ways to cooperate in the face of an aggressive China bent on exerting itself across the Indo-Pacific region.

Defence thinkers routinely identify Australia as one of the safest countries in the world. However, Australia’s future is likely to be more dangerous and troubling than its past has been. This paper discusses the comparison between Swiss and Australian approaches to threatening strategic environments.

Wars often arrive unexpectedly, and their nature and scope are rarely understood before they start. This paper aims to provide a structured way of thinking about mobilisation policymaking and planning that takes this inherent uncertainty into account.

This study examines how local and international funding interventions focussed on specific regions, such as 'city deals,' deliver affordable rental housing for low income households to enhance urban productivity. Such strategic policy interventions offer some promise in creating new economic opportunities. However, explicit policies are...

This report sets out the State Services Authority’s exploration of key issues affecting the future of the public sector.

Spatial imaginaries feature prominently in contemporary metropolitan strategic planning strategies. In particular, many metropolitan planners have experimented with the use of functional economic corridors, typically although not exclusively based on soft or fuzzy boundaries.

Over time, the focus of federal and state governments on cities and urban policies has been sporadic, and agendas have shifted considerably. Without any sustained policy development or implementation it is unclear what constitutes ‘cities’ policy in Australia. This paper examines strategic policy documents relevant...

Drawing on experiences from research and professional practice, in Australia and internationally, this paper considers the potential for traditional urban travel demand models and Decision Support Tools to be combined within a more complementary process of planning, evaluating, and selecting urban infrastructure projects.

Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic requires rapid development of scientific knowledge and decisive international leadership. The focus of this paper is the urgency for planning now for after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, and it begins with a discussion of reframing strategic thinking.