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Published daily by the Lowy Institute

  • 16 May 2023
    • Australia
    • Diplomacy

    Indigenous Voice: Getting ready to explain to the world if Australia votes “No”

    Hugh Piper
    The referendum is a pivotal moment for global perceptions of Australia. Diplomats must be ready whatever the outcome.
  • 16 May 2023
    • Aid & Development
    • Australia
    • Australian Foreign Aid

    Life in Australia’s aid program - but not as we know it

    Grace Stanhope
    The cost of development measures is being spread across government in creative ways, making coordination harder.
  • 12 May 2023
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security

    Australia’s future security: Where the Defence Strategic Review falls short

    Bec Strating , Joanne Wallis
    An integrated National Security Strategy could consider all the tools of statecraft rather than a defensive mindset.
  • 11 May 2023
    • Australia
    • Australia's Economy

    Economic diplomacy: Paying for a new security era

    Greg Earl
    The budget contains some tantalising hints about future foreign policy, offset by some doleful old realities.
  • 11 May 2023
    • Australia
    • United Kingdom
    • Multilateral Institutions

    Australia: The lynchpin of a modernised Commonwealth

    Sam Bidwell
    A network of middle powers and small states supporting one another. What’s not to like?
  • 9 May 2023
    • Australia
    • Diplomacy

    DFAT: Show me the money

    Daniel Flitton
    Reports of a boost to spending to Australia’s diplomatic machinery need to be judged against what has been cut before.
  • 8 May 2023
    • Australia

    Curiosity and openness: Allan Gyngell’s light touch in the early days at the Lowy Institute

    Anthony Bubalo
    Experiment and evolve was the message, and he did it by putting trust in the next generation of voices.
  • 5 May 2023
    • Aid & Development
    • Australia
    • Australian Foreign Aid

    Budget time: Will Labor rebuild Australia’s aid program, and how? 

    Roland Rajah , Riley Duke
    Global crisis and shifting economic realities mean Australia must both rebuild and modernise its development efforts.
  • 2 May 2023
    • Asia
    • South Korea
    • Australia
    • Free Trade
    • Global Issues

    Choosing openness in the international economy

    Andrew Leigh
    As the region seeks to rebound from a global economic downturn, the free flow of goods and services is key.
  • 2 May 2023
    • Japan
    • Australia
    • Energy
    • Climate change

    Managing Japan-Australia energy tensions in a time of transition

    James Bowen
    Australia can’t afford to support Japan’s carbon emissions anymore than its own.
  • 1 May 2023
    • Asia
    • Australia
    • Australia's Economy
    • Australian trade, investment & economy
    • Energy
    • Climate change

    Finding opportunity in Asia’s net-zero transition

    Muyi Yang
    Australia will miss out if it doesn’t prepare for lower coal and gas exports.
  • 27 Apr 2023
    • Japan
    • Australia
    • Energy
    • Trade

    Economic diplomacy: Friends, rivals and diplomatic gaslighting

    Greg Earl
    Money still talks in a new world of tighter security alliances when Japan and China can align against Australia on energy.
  • 26 Apr 2023
    • China
    • Taiwan
    • Australia

    The two big flaws in Penny Wong’s talk of deterrence over Taiwan

    Hugh White
    It’s wishful thinking to dismiss debate on the most difficult and important foreign policy question as a “parlour game”.
  • 26 Apr 2023
    • Asean
    • China
    • India
    • Japan
    • Australia
    • United States

    Quad should ask ASEAN to a diplomatic dance

    Ved Shinde
    For all the talk of hedging, Southeast Asian nations have long worried about China’s ambition to dominate the region.
  • 21 Apr 2023
    • Indonesia
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security

    Strategic divergence with Indonesia: an Australian perspective

    Susannah Patton
    Despite expected differences with Indonesia, Australia also underplays how fast its regional approach has changed in just a decade.
  • 20 Apr 2023
    • Indonesia
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security

    Embracing the different ways Indonesia and Australia view the region

    Evan A Laksmana
    It would be a mistake to assume enhanced defence cooperation means the two countries share a strategic outlook.
  • 20 Apr 2023
    • Aid & Development
    • Australia
    • Pacific Islands
    • Solomon Islands

    Questions about Australian aid to fund the Pacific Games

    Stephen Howes
    Australia is backing a sports tournament over urgent development needs, and doing so may break international aid rules.
  • 19 Apr 2023
    • China
    • Australia
    • United States

    Hugh White on the choice facing Penny Wong

    Hugh White
    How long can the Foreign Minister talk of a multipolar order in Asia in a government working to bolster US strategic primacy?
  • 19 Apr 2023
    • Australia
    • Public Opinion

    Chinese-Australians feel more at home

    Jennifer Hsu
    Despite tension in Australia-China relations, Chinese-Australians express stronger connection and trust in Australia.
  • 17 Apr 2023
    • Australia
    • Australian Navy
    • Defence & Security
    • Nuclear Non-Proliferation, Arms Control and Disarmament

    AUKUS: What to do with nuclear waste?

    Maria Rost Rublee
    Only by investing in community consent – “social licence” – can the government be certain about long-term storage plans.
  • 14 Apr 2023
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • Diplomacy
    • Europe

    No Albo at NATO, no worries

    Patrick Triglavcanin
    Australia’s diplomatic effort has been in overdrive. That doesn’t change by not sending a minister to Vilnius.
  • 14 Apr 2023
    • Australia
    • Diplomacy
    • Climate change
    • Multilateral Institutions
    • United Nations
    • Pacific Islands

    A strategy for engaging for small developing states

    Hamish Fejo
    If Australia is serious about climate change, it needs better relationships with island nations – near and far.
  • 6 Apr 2023
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • Review

    What “Utopia” got wrong about China and defence policy

    Sam Roggeveen
    If Australia didn’t have a Defence Force, would China have turned to force rather than economic coercion?
  • 6 Apr 2023
    • China
    • India
    • Japan
    • Philippines
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security

    China is its own worst enemy

    Daniel R. DePetris
    Xi’s belligerence prompts classic balancing, an alignment among smaller states that would alone struggle to compete.
  • 4 Apr 2023
    • India
    • Japan
    • Australia
    • Russia
    • Ukraine
    • United States

    To help end war in Ukraine, the Quad should back India to engage Russia

    Adarsh Badri
    India might be accused of playing both sides but also has the special relationships to lead a push towards a settlement.
  • 3 Apr 2023
    • India
    • Japan
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • United States

    What the Quad could learn from AUKUS

    Arzan Tarapore
    If the four powers decide to adopt a greater security role, they should go beyond empty signals.
  • 30 Mar 2023
    • China
    • South China Sea
    • Australia
    • Resource security

    Climate change, ironically, reduces the heat in the South China Sea

    John Quiggin
    The days for oil and gas are numbered, so the economic case of a fight over undersea resources doesn’t stack up.
  • 28 Mar 2023
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security

    The economics of AUKUS

    Jenny Gordon
    A formal cost-benefit analysis wouldn’t go astray to help understand the benefits had a different decision been made.
  • 27 Mar 2023
    • Philippines
    • Australia
    • Australian Navy
    • Defence & Security

    Philippines: The best friend for AUKUS in Southeast Asia

    Richard Javad Heydarian
    Manila has stood apart on Australia’s nuclear-powered subs deal as a sympathetic democracy seeking to balance China.
  • 24 Mar 2023
    • Australia
    • Antarctica
    • Sustainability

    Krill campaign less than thrilling

    Claire Young
    Sea Shepherd should widen its net beyond activism by diversifying efforts to support sustainable fishing.
  • 23 Mar 2023
    • Australia
    • Climate change
    • Public Opinion

    Ending the climate wars: the public’s mandate

    Ryan Neelam
    Australians understand the need to act. As global scientists issue the clearest warning yet, can Labor deliver?
  • 22 Mar 2023
    • China
    • Taiwan
    • Australia
    • Australian Navy
    • Defence & Security
    • United States

    AUKUS commits Australia to fight China if America does, simple

    Hugh White
    Whatever the flag, Washington would not sell nuclear-powered boats unless it could count on them in war over Taiwan.
  • 22 Mar 2023
    • Asean
    • Indonesia
    • Myanmar
    • Australia

    Can ASEAN forge a political solution in Myanmar?

    Rebecca Barber
    Indonesia and Australia have different but equally critical roles in bringing the junta to the negotiating table.
  • 21 Mar 2023
    • Indonesia
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • Maritime Security
    • International law

    Could Indonesia legally stop transit by nuclear-powered AUKUS subs?

    Dita Liliansa
    International law includes passage rights for all vessels in archipelagic waters – during peace or wartime.
  • 20 Mar 2023
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • Pacific Islands

    AUKUS in the Pacific: Calm with undercurrents

    Meg Keen
    Pacific neighbours understand the drivers behind Australia’s bid for nuclear-powered subs, but still harbour concerns.
  • 17 Mar 2023
    • Australia
    • Australian Navy
    • Defence & Security

    AUKUS: The pillars of Hercules

    Peter Tesch
    Wishful thinking will not make the world more benign. Ambition carries a cost, but Australia has a responsibility, too.
  • 17 Mar 2023
    • Australia
    • Australia's Economy
    • Australian Navy
    • Defence & Security

    The limits on Australia’s submarine industry

    John Edwards
    Long before the last boat is delivered, the business will be winding down.
  • 10 Mar 2023
    • Australia
    • Australian Navy
    • Defence & Security
    • United Kingdom
    • United States

    AUKUS: Asking a veteran submariner what to think

    Justin Burke
    What are the big issues still lurking beneath the surface of the AUKUS debate?
  • 9 Mar 2023
    • India
    • Australia

    Finding the right approach to India as a “Civilisational State”

    Benedict Coleridge
    Australian diplomacy must be careful about the domestic political messages that accompany any complex relationship.
  • 9 Mar 2023
    • Australia
    • Diplomacy

    A first for Australia, and First Nations Australians

    Hamish Fejo
    Now the hard work begins to ensure a First Nations Foreign Policy amounts to more than words.
  • 9 Mar 2023
    • Australia
    • Emerging Threats
    • Terrorism

    A strategy for securing Australian democracy

    Levi West
    Rising right-wing extremism threatens the liberties we take for granted, which means Canberra needs a new plan.
  • 7 Mar 2023
    • India
    • Australia

    Getting India right

    Ian Hall
    Shared concern over China is one thing but Anthony Albanese must also overcome misapprehensions about India’s rise.
  • 1 Mar 2023
    • Australia
    • Papua New Guinea

    Reflections on the 29th Australia-Papua New Guinea Ministerial Forum

    Natasha Turia
    More action led outputs needed.
  • 24 Feb 2023
    • Australia
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Australia's Defence Challenges
    • Australia-United States Relations
    • Australian Defence Force
    • Australian Navy
    • Australia–New Zealand
    • China-Australia Relations
    • New Zealand

    The Australia-New Zealand alliance in a war with China

    Robert Ayson
    The potential for conflict in the region should have Canberra and Wellington thinking about shared strategic risks.
  • 16 Feb 2023
    • Asia
    • Australia
    • Global Economy

    Economic diplomacy: Banking on Asia is hard to escape

    Greg Earl
    Australian banks are stepping back from Asia just as the government pushes for business to diversify away from China.
  • 13 Feb 2023
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • Russia
    • Ukraine

    Ukraine needs tanks – Australia should send some

    Dave Sharma
    The war is entering a new phase and our support needs to keep pace with developments on the ground.
  • 9 Feb 2023
    • Indonesia
    • Australia
    • Asylum seekers and refugees
    • Migration
    • Transnational Challenges

    Australia and Indonesia can lead a response to refugee crisis in the region

    Andrew Hudson
    Shared information will help with rescue efforts and to pursue the leaders in people smuggling outfits.
  • 9 Feb 2023
    • Australia
    • Diplomacy

    Richard Woolcott: Navigating great change

    William Fisher
    Contacts and controversy, remembering a peerless diplomat’s life in the thick of it.
  • 8 Feb 2023
    • China
    • Australia
    • Trade

    What the China thaw means for Australia’s trade diversification agenda

    Leigh Howard
    While it’s easy to say never again allow one market to dominate, the promise of premium prices will be hard to ignore.
  • 6 Feb 2023
    • Asia
    • China
    • India
    • Japan
    • Australia in the World
    • Australia
    • Australia and Asia
    • United States

    The big picture: five lessons for five years of the Asia Power Index

    Hervé Lemahieu
    Superpower rivalry matters – but don’t be blinded to the role of smaller players in a region of many contests.
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