Australia
Australia-Indonesia ties: escaping the beefs about boats or Bali
When I was a correspondent for the Financial Times in Jakarta, I often commiserated with my Australian media peers. While they worked hard to carve out time to shed light on the…
Progress of women in diplomacy a point of pride for DFAT
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has a longstanding commitment to achieving gender equality. We have made great progress supporting women in leadership and it is a…
Book review: Hugh White’s How to Defend Australia
Book Review: How to Defend Australia, by Hugh White (La Trobe University Press, 2019)
Defence commentator Hugh White never shouts from the rooftops, and his new book How to…
National security: Australians and their elites
It may be distasteful to some, but there is no escaping the need for political elites. The trick, particularly in a democracy, is for those elites to carry a sense of legitimacy.
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Australian attitudes to China shift: 2019 Lowy Poll
Among many interesting findings in this year’s Lowy Institute Poll, one new question produced a particularly striking result given Australia’s debate over how to navigate the…
The Pacific: pinching pennies doesn’t make for policy longevity
When it comes to “stepping-up” in the Pacific, Australians get the what, they get the who, and they get the why. But they still have a long way to go before they’re convinced that…
The Matildas and Socceroos vs. Marta and Messi
The Australia women’s national soccer team bowed out of the Women’s World Cup this past weekend following a dramatic loss to Norway on penalty kicks. It was the end of a…
Are Australians more worried about climate change or climate policy?
The latest Lowy Institute poll indicates that Australians are increasingly concerned about climate change and its implications. Three figures are particularly telling.
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The polls were wrong, but here’s our poll, and why you should read it
It’s not exactly the best time to be releasing an opinion poll. In the wake of the 2019 election, there are fair questions about why we poll any more. But today we launch the Lowy…
Iran: Australia’s deliberate ambiguity
Ambiguity in foreign policy is no bad thing, and on Iran, the only certainty Donald Trump has displayed after a week of heightened tension was his weekend declaration …