Australian Perspective

Beyond Fortress Australia
Interactives
Beyond Fortress Australia
The reality of living in a pandemic has dawned on Australia. Covid cases at the time of writing are high and still climbing. The virus is here to stay. Equally clear is that ring…
The secret life of Wyatt Roy
The former Member for Longman's surprise visit to Iraq is drawing plenty of criticism. The ALP's Penny Wong was perhaps the most savage, advising him that Iraq was not a 'place…
What needs to happen before the 2018 ASEAN-Australia leaders summit
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's pledge to hold an ASEAN-Australia leaders' summit in 2018 is a sign that Australia intends to take a more proactive and public role in shaping…
Witnessing an opaque Pacific power shift
Today the Lowy Institute’s Melanesia program launches a major update to the Institute’s flagship research mapping project on Chinese Aid in the Pacific.*  The map now…
Australian leadership needed to scale the refugee summit
On 19 September, a UN high-level meeting to address large movements of refugees and migrants is expected to endorse an outcome document that commits states to negotiating a …
Digital Diplomacy links: Antarctic tweets, Army podcast, White House bots, India app and more
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and why the unmediated photo is the message. The new Hillary Clinton app has taken a page out of Kim Kardashian's mobile app…
Michelle Guthrie on the role of Australian foreign correspondents
New ABC Managing Director Michelle Guthrie gave a thoughtful speech at the Lowy Institute Media Award dinner last night (read the whole thing here). The Australian's coverage of…
Rudd as Secretary-General: UN should have decided, not Turnbull
Kevin Rudd's bid to nominate as a candidate for the next UN secretary general (SG) has been vetoed by the Turnbull Government. This is more than a little embarrassing for…
Anxious about China, unsure about the US: Australians and the 2016 Lowy Institute Poll
It's likely 2016 will be remembered as a year of polls: the Brexit poll this week, the Australian election on 2 July, the US presidential election in November, and even a UN poll…
Digital diplomacy links (defence special): White Paper, Army blogging, honeytraps and more
The launch of the Defence White Paper was a hot mess of hashtags: Prime Minister Turnbull (#DWP2016), Defence Minister Payne (#2016DWP), the Department of Defence (…