Australia in the World
Australia and Indonesia can lead a response to refugee crisis in the region
A rare ministerial meeting of the Bali Process in Adelaide on Friday is an opportunity for engagement, collaboration and leadership on a matter of urgent regional concern – the…
Richard Woolcott: Navigating great change
Dick Woolcott was the best Australian diplomat of a generation. He was clever, hugely well informed, and perhaps the nicest man you’ll ever meet. He was to me a mentor, and a…
What the China thaw means for Australia’s trade diversification agenda
The meeting this week between Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell and his Chinese counterpart Commerce Minister Wang Wentao represents more than just the next instalment in the…
Commentary
Australia cements ties with PNG, reinforces role in Pacific
This article originally appeared in the Economist Intelligence Unit, 16 January 2023.
Commentary
Why Australia needs to own its strategic power
Australia will need to shape a region likely to be made up of a messy patchwork of coalitions, rather than a grand concert of powers. First published in the Australian…
The big picture: five lessons for five years of the Asia Power Index
This morning we released the 2023 edition of the Lowy Institute Asia Power Index. This data-driven assessment measures national resources and international influence to determine…
Economic diplomacy: Diversification is hard to do
Catching up
It is now 25 years since then World Bank senior vice-president and chief economist Joseph Stiglitz remarkably turned on his employer to set out a roadmap for …
France-Australia: Salving the wounds of AUKUS
If a week is a long time in politics, 18 months makes for a lifetime in diplomacy. That’s the time now elapsed since the “stab in the back” – words French Foreign Minister Jean…
Australia’s Myanmar sanctions: now for the real decisions
It took Australia two years after Myanmar’s coup to impose new sanctions. On 1 February, Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced autonomous sanctions on the 16 members of the State…
Marles torpedoes French subs, but is yet to explain nuclear advantage
Of all the places to drop a bombshell about Australia’s quest for new submarines, could Defence Minister Richard Marles have picked a worse one than Paris? The question put to…