Forty years ago Australia decided to engage China. We should now embark on a similar path of engagement with Africa. Africa is on a growth trajectory that’s enabled it to become the world’s fastest-growing continent. …
Diplomacy is a demanding responsibility of governance because the expectations of it are high and diverse. Its tired stereotyping contrasts with the reality of its challenges. A nation’s diplomacy needs to inform its government about …
Sir James Plimsoll was a strategist. While his illustrious foreign service career might suggest that he was more an implementer than a crafter of policy, those of us who were privileged to see him at …
Smoke clears. Agony and anguish ebb. The fallen depart. The integration of AusAID into the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade—the greatest revolution in Australia’s foreign policy bureaucracy since 1987—is done, if not dusted. The …
Australia’s rotation off the UN Security Council on 31 December 2014 occurred quietly and without fanfare—a marked shift after six years of campaigning and serving. The foreign minister released a media statement highlighting many of …