Bruce Haigh

• Bruce Haigh is a retired diplomat who served in South Africa, twice in Pakistan and Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka and Iran.

  In South Africa, he assisted anti-apartheid activists, amongst whom was Donald Woods, the outspoken news paper editor. Bruce assisted him escape South Africa which was portrayed in the Richard Attenborough film, Cry Freedom.

  Bruce was the first diplomat in Pakistan to make contact with Benazir Bhutto following her return from exile. They became close friends.

  In Afghanistan, Bruce took photographs of Russian armoured vehicles, radio installations and soldiers.

  Bruce came to Foreign Affairs via Jackarooing in the Kimberly’s, rough necking on an oil rig inland from Broome and two years National Service in the Armoured Corps. He secured an honours degree in history and politics from the University of WA.

  He worked on the Refugee Review Tribunal for six years until Ruddock, Downer and Howard saw through him.

  Bruce developed a vineyard and olive grove at Mudgee where he now lives and writes and comments on current affairs.

Articles written by Bruce Haigh (48)

• 16 April 2023 | FLASHBACK 2020: The ramifications of Dutton-style 'diplomacy'
• 9 July 2022 | Labor's Mark Dreyfus undoes unjust prosecution of Bernard Collaery
• 12 April 2022 | Morrison's arrogance toward South Pacific fuels China tensions
• 2 August 2021 | Morrison's policy failures will be his undoing
• 9 June 2021 | Australia is in denial over one-way relationship with U.S.
• 19 May 2021 | Morrison exploits the issue of China for domestic political gain
• 23 March 2021 | China outpaces Australia as we cosy up to the U.S.
• 16 February 2021 | Australia's sovereignty is in unsafe hands
• 8 February 2021 | Myanmar military takeover cannot be stopped by waning U.S. power
• 4 January 2021 | Australian sovereignty: The long and short of it
• 20 December 2020 | Australia must forge an independent foreign policy
• 30 September 2020 | Security agencies assume greater role in Australian policymaking
• 21 September 2020 | Getting back to the roots of spycraft
• 10 September 2020 | China policy: Our trading relationship is being ruined by the Right wing
• 31 August 2020 | Australia's trend toward Dutton-style government power
• 26 August 2020 | The idea of American exceptionalism has infected Australia
• 14 August 2020 | The importance of making up with China
• 28 April 2020 | The ramifications of Dutton-style 'diplomacy'
• 15 April 2020 | After COVID-19, a change is overdue
• 12 October 2019 | Between China and America, we chose the wrong friend
• 13 July 2019 | International relations are foreign policy to Scott Morrison
• 22 April 2019 | There is no business like show business
• 19 March 2019 | The seeds of intolerance were sown long before the Christchurch massacre
• 29 January 2019 | Murray-Darling collapse: Carelessness and corruption beyond caring
• 24 November 2018 | The ANZACS: Ransacked by the Right
• 6 November 2018 | Australia's current political narrative: Too tragic to be a comedy
• 11 August 2018 | Sharri Markson's Barnaby Joyce 'scoop': Giving credit where credit is due
• 19 March 2018 | Peter Dutton's white SA farmer priorities: Bringing shame on Australia
• 5 March 2018 | Duterte the Dauntless and the Turnbull Government's South China Sea role
• 14 September 2017 | Marawi — a metaphor for Islamic extremism in Asia
• 25 June 2017 | ISIS in the Philippines and Australia's surrender of South East Asia
• 7 June 2017 | Australian foreign policy and ISIS in the region
• 24 May 2017 | Importance of ASEAN: Border protection means more than just bullying refugees
• 2 January 2017 | Despite China's growing influence, it's still all the way with the USA for Turnbull
• 6 December 2016 | Time to apply Chautauqua to Australia
• 11 September 2016 | Australia's complicity in Sri Lankan war crimes
• 6 September 2016 | Mounting abuses in youth detention need Indigenous-led solutions
• 30 August 2016 | Who holds the key to Australia's potential?
• 20 June 2016 | Donald Trump and Australia's American dependency
• 4 May 2016 | Asylum seekers: Victims of Australia's selfishness
• 23 March 2016 | Ground up at the medical meat market
• 12 March 2016 | Government negligence and Australia's water crisis
• 27 January 2016 | A Day of Shame in the Land of No Fair Go
• 11 May 2015 | The unbalanced Budget
• 29 April 2015 | State sanctioned murder
• 2 March 2015 | The Abbott Government and Sri Lanka's new regime
• 6 November 2014 | Tony Abbott, Iraq and the Anzac myth
• 30 September 2014 | Tony Abbott’s reckless Crusade