Matt McDonald
@mattuq.bsky.social
Professor of International Relations at the University of Queensland, mostly researching climate & security. https://polsis.uq.edu.au/profile/1174/matt-mcdonald
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!
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/...
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
academic.oup.com
www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...
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
theguardian.com
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...
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...
direct.mit.edu
What cost of living crisis? $50 billion more for Defence... theconversation.com/albanese-gov...
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.
theconversation.com
I’m ambivalent about the chocolate & cars, but this is wonderful, wonderful news
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!
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…
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!
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...
Contemporary Security Policy
Defence and climate change. Volume 47, Issue 1 of Contemporary Security Policy
tandfonline.com
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....
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...
tandfonline.com
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...
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.
theconversation.com
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…
Oh great. Can’t we develop better border controls measures for this…? www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...
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.
abc.net.au
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...
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
theguardian.com
An eviscerating takedown of a farcical pretence of humanitarianism by an organisation that knows what humanitarianism looks like. www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...
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
theguardian.com
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...
#BISA2025 keynote: Professor Roland Bleiker - Seeing and sensing world politics
YouTube video by MyBISA
youtube.com
Amen theconversation.com/top-australi...
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.
theconversation.com
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!
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!
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!
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...
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.
theconversation.com
Sweet Jesus, what a clustercuss. www.theguardian.com/us-news/live...
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
theguardian.com
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…
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...
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
theguardian.com
Excellent analysis by @drianhall.bsky.social on the India-Pakistan skirmish in today's @theconversation.com theconversation.com/india-and-pa...
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.
theconversation.com
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...
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...
theguardian.com
