Diplomacy
What roles should sport play in Australia’s image and diplomacy?
For those with an interest in sports diplomacy and the Indo-Pacific, it is hard to go beyond a recent swathe of mega sports events. In July and August, Australia and New Zealand…
The foreign policy case for the PM to spend more time at home
Nick Bryant, former BBC correspondent and now Sydney resident, made a case this week against “the dreary parochialism” too often evident in Australian politics – the latest…
China-Australia: Smartening up people-to-people links
This week in Beijing, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told China’s President Xi Jinping that “we can all benefit from greater understanding that comes from high-level…
Climate negotiations in a fossil fuel state: What to expect from COP28
The time until the next climate change negotiations get underway in December seems deceptively far away, but in fact countries are already gearing up for the 28th Conference…
A sign of the times: the resurgence of pacts, treaties, and alliances
There has been ongoing debate for several years now over whether the current era of “strategic competition” constitutes a “new Cold War”. Analogies have been cast about with…
Australia’s next challenge for Indigenous foreign policy
“The problem with media reporting on Indigenous Australians,” an Aboriginal leader told me more than a decade ago while I worked in the Canberra parliamentary press gallery, “is…
Pump up the volume: Music diplomacy as soft power
Last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the US Global Music Diplomacy Initiative, aimed at strengthening peace, democracy and the promotion of US values through…
Great expectations: Australia’s elusive Southeast Asia vision
Nicholas Moore’s Southeast Asia Economic Strategy, a new government-commissioned report on Australia’s economic prospects in the region, is a detailed and comprehensive compendium…
Australia’s support for Bangladesh will bolster regional stability
Australia is in the process of enhancing partnerships in the Indian Ocean region, including with non-traditional partners such as Bangladesh. Australia has a significant stake in…
Can the Matildas waltz onto the world stage for Australia’s sport diplomacy?
Just at the pointy end of the Indian Premier League cricket finals in May, the University of Technology Sydney hosted a conference in New Delhi themed around “Cricket,…