In 1901 Australia's fledgling Federal Government assumed the responsibility for the new nation's defence. Their first task was to take the aged and obsolete remnants of the colonies' navies and create a national navy to defend our island's coastal waters and overseas trade routes. For the first 40 years the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) was designed to serve alongside the Royal Navy, and resembled it in everything but scale. After the Second World War the RAN developed along US lines but, despite these overseas ties, the RAN has developed its own proud character and tradition and has entered the twenty-first century as a confident and independent force in its own right.In No Pleasure Cruise, Australia's best-known naval historian, Dr Tom Frame, charts the RAN's emergence as one of the world's strongest and most respected navies, and its evolving relationship with the Australian public, press and parliament.

The complete and authoritative account of the sinking of the HMAS Sydney, and the finding of her wreck in 2008. On 19 November 1941, the pride of the Australian Navy, the light cruiser Sydney, fought a close-quarters battle with the German armed raider HSK Kormoran off Carnarvon on the West Australian coast. Both ships sank - and not one of the 645 men on board the Sydney survived. Was Sydney's captain guilty of negligence by allowing his ship to manoeuvre within range of Kormoran's guns? Did the Germans feign surrender before firing a torpedo at the Sydney as she prepared to despatch a boarding party? This updated edition covers the discovery of the wreck - with the light this sheds on the events of that day in 1941, and the closure it has brought to so many grieving families. 'Tom Frame has produced the most comprehensive and compelling account of the loss of HMAS Sydney to date. His judgements are fair and his conclusions reasoned. If you only read one book on this tragic event in Australian naval history, and want all the facts and theories presented in a balanced way, Tom Frame's book is for you.' - Vice Admiral Russ Shalders AO CSC RANR Chief of Navy, 2005-08.

The Brereton report - the findings of a long-running inquiry into war crimes allegations involving members of the Australian Special Operations Task Group during their 2005-13 deployment to Afghanistan - was publicly released on 23 November 2020. Veiled Valour, from one of Australia's most respected military affairs analysts, explores the background to these allegations - the gradual demise of the Afghan state and society, the decision to deploy Special Forces personnel to Central Asia after 2001, the inquiries into apparent mistakes and alleged misconduct, and the shocking hearsay and rumours that led to a formal inquiry. Ending the day before the Brereton report's public release, Veiled Valour sheds light on why the inquiry was necessary, how its investigations were conducted, where the media influenced its direction and what the public expected to be told about its military elite.

The Liberal-National Party Coalition was elected to office on 2 March 1996 and continued in power until 3 December 2007 making John Howard the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister. This book is the final in a four-volume series examining the four Howard Governments. Contributors to each of these volumes are asked to focus critically on the Coalition’s policies and performance to reveal the Howard Government’s shortcomings and failures. The aim of each of these volumes is to be analytical rather than celebratory (although giving praise where due), to create an atmosphere of open and balanced inquiry, including among those who contributed to the history being examined while making the most of the passage of time – that is, writing with the benefit of hindsight. fourth volume covers the period October 2004 to November 2007 and examines the Opposition leadership of Mark Latham, the Coalition’s gaining control of the Senate, changes to the social welfare policy and provision, the advent of WorkChoices, the progress of Indigenous Reconciliation and the Northern Territory intervention, succession tensions between John Howard and Peter Costello, the ‘Kevin 07’ campaign, the election that saw the Coalition lose office and the Prime Minister his seat in parliament, and the longer-term legacies of the Howard years.

Since 1967 more than 25,000 students have graduated from UNSW after studying at Duntroon, HMAS Creswell, the RAAF College and UNSW Canberra. In Widening Minds, Tom Frame examines the productive 50-year partnership between University of New South Wales and Australian Defence Force. In a candid exploration of the highs and lows of the longest educational partnership in Australian history, Frame produces an 'uncensored' account that explains the need for tertiary education that emerged during the Vietnam conflict and the professional outlook of those leading Australia's various military campaigns. He traces the evolution of officer education, the controversial decision to create the Australian Defence Force Academy, the subsequent development of undergraduate and postgraduate courses, the response to cadet controversies and the University's efforts to raise educational standards and the quality of intellectual debate across the Defence community.

The Long Road analyses the ADF's 'train, advise, assist'missions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea,Bougainville, the Solomon Islands, South Vietnam andUganda. With contributions from media commentatorsChris Masters and Ian McPhedran, politicians KevinAndrews and David Feeney, academics, aid workersand military personnel, The Long Road evaluates thesuccesses and failures of Australia's efforts to help itsneighbours and partners avoid armed conflict.

No-one in the Australian government or Army could have predicted that in the 25 years following the end of the Cold War Army personnel would be deployed to Rwanda, Cambodia, Somalia, Bougainville, East Timor, Afghanistan, Iraq and the Solomon Islands. In a constructive critique of the modern Australian Army, On Ops examines the massive transformation that has taken place since troops were deployed to East Timor 1999. After decades of inactivity and the 'long peace' of the 1970s and 1980s the Army was stretched to the limit. Contributors include John Howard and Peter Leahy as well as Craig Stockings, David Horner and an impressive arrary of military historians, academics, intelligence experts and ex and current Army.

In Anglicans in Australia, bishop and theological commentator Tom Frame identifies the faultlines and tensions that exist within the contemporary Anglican Church, describes continuing debates over doctrine and their effect on the Australian Churchs relationship with the global Anglican Communion, and outlines problems, prospects and possibilities over the next twenty-five years. This thoroughly researched and carefully constructed book, written by a perceptive and judicious insider, will help Anglicans understand their own complex religious institution and illuminate it for outsiders as well.

In the aftermath of the Port Arthur massacre on 28 April 1996 - when a gunman killed 35 people and seriously wounded another 21 in a quiet town in Tasmania - John Howard, a conservative prime minister who had been in office for just six weeks, moved swiftly to revolutionise Australia's gun control laws. The National Firearms Agreement, produced just twelve days after the massacre, with support from all levels of government and across the Australian political divide, but derided by Howard's natural political allies in the US, is now held up around the world as a model for gun control. Gun Control draws on interviews with those who supported and opposed the new laws, and asks whether the aftermath of the tragedy might have been a lost opportunity to achieve much more than simply preventing a repeat of Port Arthur - vitally important though that was. Tom Frame argues that the mechanisms for amending national firearms agreement are in need of substantial revision alongside the agreement itself. Frame analyses whether the Australian Government achieved its intention, and what it might have done in response to the massacre, and didn't. The book also traces the history of Australian gun usage and control, and compares this with the US experience.

Events at Abu Ghraib prison and the 1968 My Lai Massacre show that the behaviour of the military can descend into barbarism. How strong is the military's commitment to avoiding such atrocities? Ethics Under Fire - a timely and compelling book - asks questions and raises issues the Australian Army can't ignore. Including chapters on social media and violence, cyberweapons, ethics in special operations and humanitarian deployments, leading military personnel, aid workers, commentators and academics discuss the Australian Army's commitment to behaving ethically, and the challenges involved. Ethics Under Fire offers a rare insight into the key issues facing the modern army arising from technology, tactics and terrorism. Sales Points An inside account that reveals the ethical challenges facing the modern Australian Army Includes views of a diverse range of contributors, from brigadiers to aid workers, academics, philosophers and ethicists

With an increasing number of Australian military personnel being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, this collection of insightful essays examines the unseen wounds sustained by our combat and peacekeeping forces. They show there are no easy answers or simple solutions, and suggest where existing approaches are misguided, and how a multi-disciplinary approach is needed to gain a better sense of moral injury.

In this challenging and provocative book, Tom Frame, one of Australia's best-known writers on religion and society, examines diminishing theological belief and declining denominational affiliation. He argues that Australia has never been a very religious nation but that few Australians have deliberately rejected belief - most simply can't see why they need to be bothered with religion at all. He contends that vehement campaigning against theistic belief is the product of growing disdain for religious fundamentalism and a vigorous commitment to personal autonomy. Losing My Religion contends that God is certainly not dead but that Australia's religious landscape will continue to change as the battle for hearts, minds and spirits continues. Published on the sesquicentennial of the first release of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species (1859), this book will provoke debate about what matters to Australians. Winner Australian Christian Book of the Year 2010