They’re the fuels powering the cars and trucks on our roads, to the planes and ships connecting Australia to the world. But with just two crude oil refineries left in Australia, we import about 90% of all those refined fuels – and conflict in the South China and East China seas has the potential to choke our supplies.

In the first analysis of its kind, the Department of Defence commissioned Richard Oloruntoba and colleagues to look at how a regional conflict could threaten Australia’s maritime supply chains. The researchers calculate a major conflict would threaten seas routes supplying 90% of Australia’s refined fuel imports: the petrol, diesel, jet fuel, marine fuel and more that we rely on.

Australia is a global outlier in not taking energy independence seriously. But as Oloruntoba and his co-authors write: “With China’s increasing military capability and belligerency, there is no longer room to be complacent about Australia’s lack of energy security.”

Tim Wallace

Deputy Business + Economy Editor

Conflict in the South China Sea threatens 90% of Australia’s fuel imports: study

Richard Oloruntoba, Curtin University; Booi Kam, RMIT University; Hong-Oanh Nguyen, University of Tasmania; Matthew Warren, RMIT University; Prem Chhetri, RMIT University; Vinh Thai, RMIT University

Our analysis is the first commissioned by the Department of Defence on the specific threat of prolonged maritime supply-chain disruptions due to conflict in the South China and East China seas.

The latest polio cases have put the world on alert. Here’s what this means for Australia and people travelling overseas

Michael Toole, Burnet Institute

Polio cases in the US, UK and Israel remind us that this could also happen in Australia. Here’s what we should watch out for.

Australia’s pursuit of ‘killer robots’ could put the trans-Tasman alliance with New Zealand on shaky ground

Sian Troath, University of Canterbury

Diverging views on automated weapons systems could make it difficult for Australia and New Zealand to manage military ties at a delicate time in trans-Tasman relations.

Pork-barrelling is unfair and wasteful. Here’s a plan to end it

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‘Tinnie army’ leads to NSW flood inquiry call to train community members as first responders. How will that work?

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Joanne O'Mara, Deakin University

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Indigenous oral history is more than a methodology. It is living history, practised for thousands of millennia, intrinsically woven into Aboriginal people’s way of life and culture.

Jay Carmichael’s gay love story set in conservative 1950s Australia intrigues, but fails to convince

Peter Robinson, UNSW Sydney

Jay Carmichael’s novel explores how Australian same-sex attracted men lived during the repressive period after the end of the second world war. But does it impose present concerns on the past?

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