As the federal election draws near, where the major parties and their candidates stand on foreign policy has been fundamentally absent from the public debate. A comparative analysis of the Coalition and the Labor Party’s positions on key foreign policy issues shows there is little to choose from.

In this article, Dr Natalia Grincheva argues that the convergence of soft power and smart city ambitions and strategies is inevitable, and that museums play a key role as centres of soft power through their ability to attract visitors, elevate the global visibility of cities and shape urban identities.

Election campaigns are mostly argued on the basis of local issues that have direct impacts on our community; so much so that the phrase “all politics is local” is considered self-evident. However, some things are missed in our three-year electoral cycle. The biggest gap in our national conversation is the place of Australia in the...

Supported by one of the most professional and dedicated foreign policy bureaucracies in the world, one can rely on any Australian government that wins office to perform their duty to represent our country in a diligent and tireless manner. The difference lies in whether a government entering, or returning to office is offering a credible...

Mainstream thinking accepts that the main tenets of Australian foreign policy are the US alliance, engagement with the Indo-Pacific and our global interests. We differ over emphasis and approach, but we are fortunate to have broad agreement on the component parts. This is one reason why foreign policy often plays a marginal role in Australian...