menu_open Columnists
James Curran

James Curran

Brisbane Times

We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

Japan’s hawkish PM could drag Australia into conflict with China

Japan’s hawkish PM could drag Australia into conflict with China

Ahead of the Japanese prime minister’s visit, has Canberra fully thought through the implications of its burgeoning defence links with Tokyo?

yesterday 10

Financial Review

James Curran

Iran debacle is Suez moment for US-Australia alliance

13.04.2026 10

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Iran debacle is Suez moment for US-Australia alliance

While there is already much introspection in America as to the long-term effects of this crisis on its capabilities, will Canberra seize the moment to...

12.04.2026 20

Financial Review

James Curran

Trump’s war without purpose is everyone’s problem

30.03.2026 20

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Iran war exposes confusion at the heart of Australia’s foreign policy

Australia’s carefully calibrated but confusing diplomacy has struggled to cope with the political and strategic consequences of the US-Israeli war...

16.03.2026 20

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Anthony Albanese on Iran is no John Howard on Iraq

The comparison with the Iraq war in 2003 is stark. While the result was disastrous, no voter could be in any doubt that John Howard believed in what...

15.03.2026 20

Financial Review

James Curran

Albanese still trailing Carney on middle-powers leadership

The Canadian leader’s speech provides another opportunity for our PM not to lead or think.

05.03.2026 40

Financial Review

James Curran

US attitude towards Vietnam remains imperialist, not capitalist

Vietnam’s Communist Party leader To Lam has consolidated power and set ambitious growth targets for the country’s future. While reforms have...

17.02.2026 20

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

US attitudes to Vietnam remains imperialist, not capitalist

Vietnam’s relationship with Washington since the end of the war has been one of remarkable redemption, but trade negotiations with Donald Trump...

16.02.2026 10

Financial Review

James Curran

Carney’s middle powers agenda leaves Canberra squirming

Anthony Albanese said he agreed with the Canadian PM, but it is highly unlikely he or any of his national security ministers would give the same kind...

01.02.2026 10

Financial Review

James Curran

Australia’s Trump reprieve masks a deeper strategic dilemma

01.02.2026 10

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Greenland is why Rudd’s DC replacement must be a diplomat

19.01.2026 20

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Best of 2025 - We’re not about to go full Trump no matter what the culture warriors say

18.01.2026 20

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Greenland is why Rudd’s DC replacement must be a diplomat not ALP mate

This is not the time to send a Les Patterson type figure or drag an old Labor mare from the stables for one last trot on the diplomatic circuit.

18.01.2026 30

Financial Review

James Curran

Best of 2025 - What Washington really thought of Whitlam before the dismissal

15.01.2026 20

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Best of 2025 - Australia and Taiwan caught between Trump and Xi’s great-man fantasies

04.01.2026 10

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Trump has no idea what he’s getting into in Venezuela

This was not just a show of strength but an expression of raw American power, fraught with the risk of unintended consequences. Now Trump owns what...

04.01.2026 20

Financial Review

James Curran

We’re not about to go full Trump no matter what the culture warriors say

01.12.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

We’re not about to go full Trump no matter what the culture warriors say

Strains on social cohesion cannot be dismissed as the embrace of multiculturalism has made the task of defining what holds the community together more...

30.11.2025 10

Financial Review

James Curran

What Washington really thought of Whitlam before the dismissal

11.11.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

What Washington really thought of Whitlam before the dismissal

The cloud of American involvement in the events of November 1975 is unlikely to ever clear.

09.11.2025 10

Financial Review

James Curran

AUKUS remains a ghost fleet for Trump and Australia

The inescapable reality is there remain plenty of off-ramps for future administrations to break the pledge to transfer the nuclear-powered submarines...

21.10.2025 10

Financial Review

James Curran

Right time for PM to sit down with peacemaker Trump according to Keating

The former prime minister believes Donald Trump will not, in virtually any circumstances, fight the Chinese. That means Labor’s China diplomacy may...

19.10.2025 20

Financial Review

James Curran

Australia’s next big bet lies East, not West

09.10.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Australia’s next big bet lies East, not West

It is in Asia where Australia’s bread is buttered. Canberra needs a strategy on the security impact of Trump’s tariffs on our interests there.

06.10.2025 10

Financial Review

James Curran

Treaty delay shows Australia still thinks it knows what’s best for PNG

23.09.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Treaty delay shows Australia still thinks it knows what’s best for PNG

The Albanese government appears to be wanting to force Pacific countries into choices they do not want to make.

21.09.2025 10

Financial Review

James Curran

Xi’s parade tips the diplomatic balance sheet in Asia

09.09.2025 20

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Xi’s parade tips the diplomatic balance sheet in Asia

On full display was Beijing’s rapid military transformation and capacity to ultimately confront the US and its allies in policy and military terms.

07.09.2025 20

Financial Review

James Curran

Australia and Taiwan caught between Trump and Xi’s great-man fantasies

25.08.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Australia and Taiwan caught between Trump and Xi’s great-man fantasies

The president may make concessions to China as he has to Putin, even if it undermines the security of Taiwan.

25.08.2025 20

Financial Review

James Curran

Trump’s memo to Canberra: America alone can’t deter China over Taiwan

Given the nature of the Trump administration, the confrontation with Australia over committing to defend Taiwan could blow up into a major crisis.

10.08.2025 10

Financial Review

James Curran

Australia employs 'straddle' diplomacy with China and the US

29.07.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Australia employs ‘straddle’ diplomacy with China and the US

Albanese’s approach is not doctrinal, but is about speaking frankly to both Washington and Beijing.

27.07.2025 20

Financial Review

James Curran

The PM will not cross Taiwan red line with China

If Anthony Albanese can be faulted, it is the government’s erosion of Australian sovereignty by its blind extension of the American military...

13.07.2025 20

Financial Review

James Curran

US forces make Australia a Chinese target: Hastie

The Coalition’s shadow defence spokesman is posing questions the Albanese government is refusing to answer about Australia being drawn into a war...

30.06.2025 20

Financial Review

James Curran

Australia’s trade survival depends on beating Trump’s tariff contagion

20.06.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Australia’s trade survival depends on beating Trump’s tariff contagion

How does Canberra cope in a world that threatens to spin off into competing blocs and help shape a world that preserves multilateralism, even if the...

18.06.2025 10

Financial Review

James Curran

If AUKUS falls over, Australia is left with very little indeed

For the past three years, Labor’s national security team has steadfastly insisted that it has no plan B. This Pentagon review will stress test that...

13.06.2025 20

Financial Review

James Curran

Will Albanese stand up to Trump on trade and defence?

If played carefully, the US will have to accept Canberra can’t be kicked around, if for no other reason than they need the military bases on...

01.06.2025 10

Financial Review

James Curran

Husic is right – Albanese is too timid about the challenges ahead

19.05.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Husic is right: Albanese is too timid about the challenges ahead

Insiders describe a PM more concentrated on the management of daily political tactics than the hard brainwork of developing strategies for the longer...

18.05.2025 9

Financial Review

James Curran

Labor can’t wish the new Trumpian world away

Albanese was happy to benefit from the Trump bump. But dollars for a new foreign and defence policy will limit his plans for domestic welfare...

04.05.2025 9

Financial Review

James Curran

Trump’s shadow is all over this election

23.04.2025 20

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Trump’s shadow is all over this election

The US president is coming to mean many things for this nation’s political leaders and for the Australian people.

21.04.2025 20

Financial Review

James Curran

Trump’s tariffs deliver a harsh truth for Australia

07.04.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Trump’s tariffs deliver a harsh truth for Australia

Too little thought has been given to the future of the Australian economy against the backdrop of a protectionist America.

06.04.2025 10

Financial Review

James Curran

The day the international economic system died in the Rose Garden

It’s hard to say how bad the impact of Trump’s tariffs will be. But there is no doubt a global trade war would have major impacts on geoeconomic...

04.04.2025 10

Financial Review

James Curran

James Curran's closing remarks to the Sovereignty and Security Conference on 31 March

03.04.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

The fundamental problem at the heart of defence policy

26.03.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran