Perhaps the most important task is to get a sense of who will prevail in the contest for foreign and defence policy influence in the Trump administration.
Managing the tension between the interests of our major strategic partner - the US - and our primary economic partner - China - has to be at the very heart of Australian foreign policy.
One specific opportunity for some serious re-thinking would be our stance on foreign investment in Australia - not usually thought of as a key element of our foreign policy.
The communications strategy employed during Trump's successful primaries and general election campaigns has not been as effective since the inauguration.
Republicans in the US House of Representatives have been conspicuously absent in the last two weeks while the rest of Congress has rallied around Australia.
Many journalists and commentators have done themselves a lot of harm, and Trump a lot of favours, by the lack of judgment they have shown in their criticisms.
The response to the recent Chinese-Indian joint venture film Kung-Fu Yoga suggests that global domination by China's film industry is still some way off.
A dramatic increase in lending (up almost threefold from the year 2000) will increase pressure on the ADB to approve new loans and create a pipeline of bankable projects.
President Trump and his nominee to head the EPA face fierce opposition, both from within the EPA and from environmental groups skilled in the activist tactic of 'lawfare'.
With no suitable lead agency and rising opposition, it is far from clear when and how Duterte's war on drugs can either start again or end successfully.