Australian Perspective
Digital diplomacy links (defence special): White Paper, Army blogging, honeytraps and more
The launch of the Defence White Paper was a hot mess of hashtags: Prime Minister Turnbull (#DWP2016), Defence Minister Payne (#2016DWP), the Department of Defence (…
Syria: The gift that keeps on giving
The official announcement today that the government would refuse a US request for additional assets to be deployed in the Middle East against Islamic State came as little surprise…
Pacific links: Fiji's budget, Ok Tedi restructure, renewables, holiday reading and more
Matthew Dornan takes a look at Fiji’s 2016 budget. He notes that while the overall economic situation in Fiji is sound, the major policy reversals and long list of ad hoc…
Pacific Island links: COP21, New Caledonian nickel, PNG education system and more
The outcomes of the Paris climate change talks have been praised by Pacific Island leaders. PNG’s Minister for National Planning, Charles Abel, spoke to Pacific Beat about the…
The Korea FTA, one year on: Those touting the benefits are cherrypicking results
Happy first birthday to the Korean Free Trade Agreement (KAFTA), which came into effect on 12 December last year. At the time, Trade Minister Andrew Robb said:
KAFTA will…
Australia and the US: good friends can sometimes differ in global economic diplomacy
It's not often that Canberra's senior bureaucrats provide a sustained critique of the functioning of global economic diplomacy. But Martin Parkinson did just that a week ago in…
Aid & development links: 'lazy' aid recipients, Australian charity, malaria fund and more
MIT and Harvard economists have debunked the claim that aid funded welfare programs in developing countries make people lazy. Vox has a good summary.
Devpolicy has posted the…
Liberty, equality, fraternity: Three dimensions of Australian foreign policy
This is the first in a series of posts marking the launch (tomorrow) of A Larger Australia, the book of the 2015 Boyer Lectures, by Lowy Institute Executive Director Michael…
Australia-Papua New Guinea relations: maintaining the friendship
The Lowy Institute, with the support of GE and the DFAT-sponsored Australia-PNG Network, is hosting the Australia-Papua New Guinea Emerging Leaders Dialogue this week. The…
Aid & development links: new C'wealth chief, metadata census, fundraising costs and more
The Commonwealth has announced its first female secretary-general, Baroness Patricia Scotland. The Baroness’ first task should be to beef up the effectiveness of their aid work…