Research Fellow, RMIT University
I’m a historian and writer focused on the history and politics of the United States. I use my expertise in history to interpret and explain what is happening in America today, and what it means for Australia, in a compassionate and accessible way. In a conversation dominated by the same voices, I offer a fresh perspective on the United States grounded in moral questions about how we might imagine a post-American future.
My first book, Our Exceptional Friend: Australia’s Fatal Alliance with the United States, was published by Hardie Grant in August 2021. I also co-host RMIT’s popular history podcast, Barely Gettin’ By, with my friend Dr Chloe Ward.
I’m a regular guest on ABC radio and television and programs like Triple RRR’s Uncommon Sense. I’ve appeared on ABC’s The Drum, Channel 9’s Today Show, and ABC podcasts like Russia, If You’re Listening and The Signal. I write regularly for popular outlets including ABC News Online and the Sydney Morning Herald. In 2020, I was named RMIT’s Media Commentator of the year.
I’m currently a Research Fellow at RMIT. Before that, I spent a year in the United States as the Fox-Zucker International Fellow at Yale University, where I finished writing my PhD in History. My academic research focuses on the history of global climate policy and global environmental governance, and the role of the United States in the world.
How will US foreign policy affect Joe Biden’s chances of re-election in November?
Apr 22, 2024 03:28 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics
When big questions about American foreign policy collide with an election, its rarely good news for a sitting president. Like many leaders before him, US President Joe Biden has had some of these questions thrust on...
Who will Trump pick as his running mate?
Apr 01, 2024 03:45 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics
Being second in line for leadership of the most powerful country in the world is not an easy job. But for Mike Pence, vice president under Donald Trump, things were even harder than usual. As insurrectionists descended...
Some truths are self-evident: Joe Biden is too old. But who could possibly replace him?
Feb 21, 2024 10:57 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics
It is possible, in politics as in life, for several things to be true at once. It is true that Donald Trump and his plans for a second presidential administration represent an existential threat to American...
Feb 20, 2024 11:13 am UTC| Politics
The verdicts keep coming. On Friday US time, the three-month hearing focused on Donald Trumps business dealings in New York came to an end. Trump was ordered to pay back more than $US350 million (A$537 million), plus...
Why 'wokeness' has become the latest battlefront for white conservatives in America
Jul 04, 2023 07:40 am UTC| Politics
The day he launched his bid for the Republican nomination for the 2024 US presidential election, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warned Fox News viewers the woke mind virus is basically a form of cultural Marxism. With...
For Joe Biden, the indictment of Donald Trump carries a heavy responsibility – and a risk
Jun 15, 2023 05:44 am UTC| Politics
In September last year, US President Joe Biden spoke to Americans from the sacred ground of Independence Hall in Philadelphia the birthplace of the Constitution of the United States. In that landmark speech, Biden warned...
Johannesburg in a time of darkness: Ivan Vladislavić’s new memoir reminds us of the city’s fragility
Economist Chris Richardson on an ‘ugly’ inflation result and the coming budget
Why Germany ditched nuclear before coal – and why it won’t go back
Labour can afford to be far more ambitious with its economic policies – voters are on board
Sudan: civil war stretches into a second year with no end in sight