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Matt McDonald

@mattuq.bsky.social
1.5K followers 557 following 89 posts

Professor of International Relations at the University of Queensland, mostly researching climate & security. polsis.uq.edu.au/profile/1174/matt-…

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Reposted by Matt McDonald
Dr Morgan Rees @morgan-t-rees.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
New article in The Pacific Review: “Fear of Abandonment and the US Alliance: The Paranoid Logic in Australian Foreign Policy.” I ask why Australia’s alignment with the US has persisted, but also why that relationship has been managed in different ways over time. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
Fear of abandonment and the US alliance – the paranoid logic in Australian foreign policy
For more than seven decades, the US alliance has been a central pillar of Australian security policy. Yet the last decade has seen US commitments become increasingly conditional and uncertain. Why ...
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
This new piece with very smart collaborators in @aunz.theconversation.com suggests we need to talk about solar geoengineering as a response to the climate crisis. We don't want to deploy, we're worried about who will fill the policy vaccuum... theconversation.com/as-global-he...
theconversation.com
As global heating heads to 1.8C, is it time to consider the ‘Voldemort’ of climate policy?
The case for large-scale technologies that reflect solar radiation back into space rests on global warming’s grim reality.
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Great piece on 1.5 overshoot by Jacqueline Peel & @wesmorgan.bsky.social theconversation.com/a-landmark-u...
theconversation.com
A landmark UN report says the world will overshoot the 1.5°C climate target. What happens now?
It’s no longer possible to hold climate change to 1.5°C. But it’s not game over – it’s game on.
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Reposted by Matt McDonald
Patrick Flamm @ptrckflmm.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
From 8-9 June, the Ecology, Climate & Conflict research group at @prif.org organised a workshop on sustainability, peace, & security. We were very excited to have @mattuq.bsky.social, Solveig Richter, Chloe Vongyer, Judith Nora Hardt, & @frederic-hanusch.bsky.social with us!
A group photo of 9 workshop participants standing around a PRIFstanding display.
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
New article in @isq-jrnl.bsky.social: what encourages states to embrace the climate security agenda, and approach it in particular ways? Based on interviews conducted in 2022-3, the story is messy & diverse but makes a case for problem-driven research in IR. academic.oup.com/isq/article/...
academic.oup.com
Climate Change and National Security: What Drives the Agenda?
Abstract. States increasingly recognize the security implications of climate change and have moved to institutionalize responses in policy and practice. Ye
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...
theguardian.com
Shaken staff and an author exodus: how a picture book plunged an acclaimed Australian publisher into a crisis over antisemitism
The cancellation of Jazz Money’s children’s book Bila, A River Cycle over comments by the book’s illustrator, Matt Chun, has led to the publisher’s potential collapse
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Great to see this piece with Brent Steele, on Indigenous v Western approaches to fire in USA and Australia, published in @gepjournal.bsky.social. We make the case different approaches to fire point to broader & significant differences in relations to nature and place. direct.mit.edu/glep/article...
direct.mit.edu
On Fire: Western and Indigenous Approaches to Nature in Settler Colonial Societies
Abstract. In recent years, forest fires have brought destruction to large swathes of land around the world and will increase in frequency and intensity with the onset of climate change. This article e...
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
What cost of living crisis? $50 billion more for Defence... theconversation.com/albanese-gov...
theconversation.com
Albanese government will commit to boosting defence spending to 3% of GDP, but under a revised definition
The pledge is likely to please the Trump Administration, which has lobbied Australia to spend more.
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
I’m ambivalent about the chocolate & cars, but this is wonderful, wonderful news
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Replacing 1m petrol cars with EVs could cut Australia’s reliance on foreign fuel by 1bn litres a year
Electric vehicles reduce exposure to global oil price shocks and shift energy consumption to electricity largely produced domestically, expert says
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
Book & Beer Series post- a genuinely important intervention in Australian security debates from the brilliant duo of @becstrating.bsky.social & @joannewallis.bsky.social, paired with a West Coast IPA (cos I’m reading the chapter on the Indian Ocean!). Cheers!
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Happy to sign this open letter calling on Australia to rapidly accelerate the shift to renewables- pressing for the climate, but also for energy security…
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Delighted to announce that I’ll be attempting to fill the very big shoes of my sometime golf partner, Brent Steele, as co-editor of @gsqjournal.bsky.social with my sometime tennis partner, @jelenasubotic.bsky.social. Very excited to work with Jelena, Chris & the awesome GSQ team!
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Our @cspjournal.bsky.social special issue on Defence & Climate Change has papers on Defence's climate obligations, the politics of disaster relief, seapower & climate change, securing 'buy-in' from Defence, distinct national approaches & dangers of securitization www.tandfonline.com/toc/fcsp20/4...
tandfonline.com
Contemporary Security Policy
Defence and climate change. Volume 47, Issue 1 of Contemporary Security Policy
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Delighted to announce publication of a special issue on Defence and Cliamte Change in @cspjournal.bsky.social, featuring outstanding scholars & papers! The Introduction is available open access here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
Defence and climate change: An introduction
Climate change is increasingly recognized as an issue of security, including by states and by traditional providers of national security within states: Defence and the military. This article introd...
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
I’m sure there’s a metaphor in there somewhere… www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Cop30 climate summit in Brazil disrupted after fire breaks out in venue
Event thrown into confusion after conference centre evacuated but UN says no one hurt
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
My latest piece in @theconversation.com is an optimistic (or at least hopeful!) take on the possibility for meaningful global climate action even in an era of Trump... Why Trump is not a death knell for global climate action theconversation.com/why-trump-is...
theconversation.com
Why Trump is not a death knell for global climate action
Trump might have pulled the pin on US climate action but the world might move on without him.
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
Agreed to review an edited book proposal & now can’t decide whether it’s weirder that the publishers asked me to review a proposal listing me as one of the chapter contributors or that the prospective editors never actually asked me whether I’d like to be one of the chapter contributors. New ground…
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
Oh great. Can’t we develop better border controls measures for this…? www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...
abc.net.au
Trump-style 'climate hoax' playbook spreads to Australia
US researchers have tracked how dark money funds a tangled web of climate denial think tanks with vested interests in slowing climate action. And Australia is not immune.
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
‘Cascading, compounding’: five key takeaways from Australia’s national climate risk assessment
From rising heat-related deaths to the environmental and economic cost of climate change, here’s what the landmark report warns
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 24/08/2025
Important not to overstate things, and some places tracking way better than others, but overall but social sciences/ humanities in the Australia. Higher Education sector is a dumpster fire… Myopic Govt policy + corporate Uni leadership= exactly what you’d expect www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
theguardian.com
Australian universities to cut about 2,400 jobs and hundreds of courses as sector blames ‘confused’ government policies
Vice-chancellors say they’ve been forced to restructure but critics point finger at ‘unaccountable’ university management
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
An eviscerating takedown of a farcical pretence of humanitarianism by an organisation that knows what humanitarianism looks like. www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...
theguardian.com
Médecins Sans Frontières calls for immediate closure of US and Israelibacked aid group in Gaza – Middle East crisis live
MSF says it has rarely ‘seen such levels of systematic violence against unarmed civilians’ as it has at GHF aid sites
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Reposted by Matt McDonald
Roland Bleiker @bleiker.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
Here a video of my keynote at the recent 50th Anniversary #BISA2025 conference in Belfast. I am more writer than speaker, so this was a challenge. But I am grateful for the invitation and glad I did it for - and with - Emma Hutchison. www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBWg...
youtube.com
#BISA2025 keynote: Professor Roland Bleiker - Seeing and sensing world politics
YouTube video by MyBISA
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
Amen theconversation.com/top-australi...
theconversation.com
Top Australian writers urge Albanese to abolish Job-Ready Graduates, calling their humanities degrees life changing
Tim Winton, Helen Garner and Peter Garrett are just a few of the high-profile signatories to an open letter against Job-Ready Graduates – and for the humanities.
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
A great day- celebrating a fantastic OCIS conference & an article acceptance from @gepjournal.bsky.social (a paper on Indigenous v Settler Colonial approaches to fire with the brilliant Brent Steele- more an that soon) at the Sydney venue of Australia’s best brewery, Mountain Culture. Cheers!
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
Beer & book series again, and I’m finally getting a chance to wade through this new book by outstanding scholars & friends, @anthonyburke.bsky.social & @flusterbird.bsky.social- The Ecology Politic (MIT 2025) paired with a Stone & Wood pale ale. Looking forward to discussing this at OCIS in Sydney!
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
The latest in my book & beer series (it’s been a while) is this wonderful collection I was privileged to contribute to, edited by brilliant colleagues at @nupinytt.bsky.social- @elanawilsonrowe.bsky.social, @pauldavidbeaumont.bsky.social & @lucasdopaes.bsky.social. Paired with a Range Hazy IPA!
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
My friend & occasional collaborator Mark Beeson with a typically provocative take on the future of the US alliance & Australian security theconversation.com/goodbye-to-a...
theconversation.com
Goodbye to all that? Rethinking Australia’s alliance with Trump’s America
With the unpredictable Trump regime running the US and looming climate catastrophe, analysts Hugh White and Emma Shortis call for a fresh approach to our security.
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
Sweet Jesus, what a clustercuss. www.theguardian.com/us-news/live...
theguardian.com
LA protests live: teargas and rubber bullets fired as Trump deployment of national guard branded ‘alarming abuse of power’
Democratic governors rebuke president ordering 2,000 troops to LA county as ‘ineffective and dangerous’ in statement
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Most popular essay question in my Global Security course- ‘Is Donald Trump a threat to International Security?’ A few US students on exchange particularly leant in to this one…
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
Tragic. Tragic too that this will generate far more outrage than the thousands of people (including kids) dying in Gaza as a result of Israel’s aggression & blockade… www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
theguardian.com
Two Israeli embassy staff shot dead near Washington DC Jewish museum
Police said a suspect was in custody after the shooting near the Capital Jewish Museum
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Excellent analysis by @drianhall.bsky.social on the India-Pakistan skirmish in today's @theconversation.com theconversation.com/india-and-pa...
theconversation.com
India and Pakistan have fought many wars in the past. Are we on the precipice of a new one?
The worry is no other country will step in to mediate, leaving both sides to settle the conflict alone. A war between the two nuclear nations could be devastating.
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
Makes sense, I was wondering why it was going so well… Trump campaign chief claims he visited Australia to advise Liberals at start of election campaign www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
theguardian.com
Trump campaign chief claims he visited Australia to advise Liberals at start of election campaign
Exclusive: Chris LaCivita, Trump’s presidential campaign co-manager, tells undercover reporters he advised on ‘structural issues’ related to Peter Dutton; the Coalition denies LaCivita was involved in...
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
I’m not going to complain about the spam from Australia’s would-be Trump equivalent in Clive Palmer, it’s a wild ride… Though quite a relief that this is a decidedly marginal figure in the Australian election, thank f&@k for compulsory preferential voting and the Australian electoral commission.
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
When ‘poor people will die, ecosystems will be destroyed, future generations will be irrevocably compromised’ apparently isn’t working as a narrative… #climate Average person will be 40% poorer if world warms by 4C, new research shows www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Average person will be 40% poorer if world warms by 4C, new research shows
Experts say previous economic models underestimated impact of global heating – as well as likely ‘cascading supply chain disruptions’
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
In an otherwise relatively crappy week I’m delighted to announce that I am no longer President of the Yeronga State High School P&C/ PTA Association. Those Open Day BBQs and trivia nights can organize themselves…
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Half of world’s CO2 emissions come from 36 fossil fuel firms, study shows
Researchers say data strengthens case for holding firms to account for their contribution to climate crisis
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Sorry to be missing #isa2025 in Chicago but keeping myself busy in Brisbane with a heap of teaching, a touch of influenza A & a fucking cyclone www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
theguardian.com
Tropical Cyclone Alfred could make landfall near Brisbane. Why is this a big deal and when could it hit?
People prepare for wild weather as BoM forecasts Alfred to hit Queensland later this week with state’s capital in its path
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
The feed on Bluesky at the moment- at least with the folks I'm following- is at least 75% post US-election stages of grief... Plenty of shock & anger, bit of denial & depression. Understandable, but I'm having to steel myself to get on this platform...
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
With the academic year about to begin here in Australia this is worth a read- very happy my Institution is resisting the trend in the sector away from face to face teaching… www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
theguardian.com
‘Teaching to an empty hall’: is the changing face of universities eroding standards of learning?
Voluntary attendance. Online classes. Student numbers swelling. Australian campuses look very different today – and many academics don’t like it
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
Great news for Australian IR- welcome back, Neil! Who can resist the siren song of Canberra...?
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 16/02/2025
Out now in @envsecjournal.bsky.social, my review of Gerard Toal's outstanding new book, Oceans Rise, Empires Fall journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com
Book Review: Review of Gerard Toal, Oceans Rise, Empires Fall: Why Geopolitics Hastens Climate Catastrophe - Matt McDonald, 2025
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
In an away day listening to vision statements for portfolios in my School I'm reminded of a brilliant idea for the next Mission Impossible film titled 'Mission Statement Impossible', where Tom Cruise has 48 hours to work out the difference between a mission statement & a vision statement..
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
If you haven’t seen it do watch the fantastic doco, Theaters of War- examining the Pentagon’s influence on Hollywood (& public opinion). Lucky enough to enjoy a private screening on the deck with one of the producers and on-screen talent, my friend & colleague Seb Kaempf m.imdb.com/title/tt1184...
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Reposted by Matt McDonald
Michael Jennions @mikejennions.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
Hi Australian Researchers. I have a plan. Let's thank the amazing @arc-tracker.bsky.social for a decade of selfless work by nominating them for a Eureka Prize (Leadership in science). Are you with me? If so, repost this. Please also reply and state your support for this quest. We can do this people.
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
This book was a lightning rod for me when I first read this as a student many years ago. Still important, possibly more relevant than ever (sadly). ‘A dark masterpiece’: Foucault’s Discipline and Punish at 50 theconversation.com/a-dark-maste...
theconversation.com
‘A dark masterpiece’: Foucault’s Discipline and Punish at 50
One of the most influential philosophical works of the 20th century, Discipline and Punish is unsettlingly prescient in our age of digital surveillance.
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
Beer & Book post time! An excellent Cold IPA from Brisbane’s best brewery (Range) paired with this new book on Technopolitics & Planetary Emergency by the very smart Columba Peoples. Great combo! Last drinks before a month off the sauce (Febfast) & maybe final book before 2025 teaching kicks off…
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
By the way, Brisbane, investing in cycling infrastructure ≠ painting pictures of bicycles on the road... www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/que...
brisbanetimes.com.au
No bike helmets during Games: Cycling’s wish list for Brisbane 2032
Brisbane has been urged to follow the lead of fellow Olympic city Paris by investing in cycling infrastructure and, at least for the Games, relaxing helmet laws.
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Reposted by Matt McDonald
Anthony Burke @anthonyburke.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Our societies are failing nature. It's exciting to finally see this wonderful collaboration exploring how the Earth and its more-than-human life can be included in democracy, government, law, and business for multispecies justice. Its free! @flusterbird.bsky.social @danycelermajer.bsky.social
cambridge.org
Institutionalising Multispecies Justice
Cambridge Core - Environmental Policy, Economics and Law - Institutionalising Multispecies Justice
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Matt McDonald @mattuq.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
I of course agree with the sentiment that this isn't in the US' national interest, but it's not just Americans who will be paying a price for this... www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-at...
atlanticcouncil.org
Americans will pay the price for Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement
The US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement not only hampers global climate efforts, but also harms Americans' lives and livelihoods.
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