Geoff Kitney

Rudd’s time as PM covered great global upheaval, and his entreaty for the world to stop and think is worth noting.

The Dutton appointment has given an element of domestic political intrigue to the Prime Minister’s announcement.

More than 30 years after the Spycatcher case, espionage is back on Prime Minister Turnbull’s agenda – albeit in an utterly different form.

Just before he retired as Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Peter Varghese gave a speech to the Institute for Public Administration in which he reflected on what he saw as a steady, long term erosion of the role of the public service in the affairs of the nation. It was, in effect, Varghese's valedictory oration, and despite his understated language, he made an alarming case.