rodjohnstonaus@gmail.com

Since 2005, I have been advocating through the Building Codes Committee, and previously through Standards Australia committees, for quantification of structural requirements. In May 2026, the NCC 2025 QUANTIFIED Structural Performance Requirements will be adopted. This is a very important and long-overdue improvement to the building code, because it levels the playing field for all … Read more

Australia say “No” Iran now … China next. Australia is being lured inexorably into World War 3 by American imperial ambition. Now is the time for Australia to opt out, to embrace military non-alignment before it is too late. Fiction … or prophecy? Here is a direct quotation from “Queen’s Pawn to D4”, published last … Read more

21 years of voluntary professional engineering and building services by Partner Housing Australasia to Australia’s Indo-Pacific neighbours Yes …  it is now 21 years since PHA was born … and we are celebrating. PHA is a very successful international engineering and building NGO. We rely entirely on volunteers … YOU … and greatly appreciate your … Read more

Australia has much expertise that it can share with Timor-Leste and our other near neighbours. Practical Standards and Building Regulations are just one way, albeit an important way, of improving living conditions and increasing regional security. Standards rely on probono expert input to maintain practicality and relevance  For more on Timor-Leste, read “Queen’s Pawn to … Read more

Now is the time for Australia to stand up for what is right. We must not endorse the ongoing Israeli-American obliteration of Palestine … Gaza now … West Bank next. Say NO to American imperialism. Australia must work for a peaceful world, and we can only achieve this by adopting a NON-ALIGNED foreign policy. ANZUS … Read more

Through Australia’s mindless adherence to ANZUS and AUKUS, we become the willing accessory to illegal American self-interest invasions around the world … Korea, Viet Nam, Iraq 1, Iraq 2, Afghanistan and countless other incursions. Through our failure to condemn such action, we can now add Venezuela to the list. Taiwan is next. Imagine five years … Read more

When does fiction become prophecy – and when does prophecy turn to reality?  Can the future be changed by learning from the past? Extract from “Queen’s Pawn to D4”, a novel of international politics by Rod Johnston – “… Attitudes of the 21st century are not so different from the motivations of the 19th and … Read more

While commenting on the ABC “Planet America” program of 7 February 2025, Dr Jeremy Konyndyke (president of Refugees International) made the following observation, “When other countries, including Australia, have merged their development ministries into their foreign ministries, their development missions and their development effectiveness and their aid effectiveness suffer … You shouldn’t merge your development … Read more