In October 2024, four key Southeast Asian countries became partners of BRICS, making the organisation much closer to home for Australians. So why have Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam put themselves on a path to membership? (more…)
Melissa Conley Tyler
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Australia-China relations: a downward spiral that can be reversed
Is the current state of Australia-China relations inevitable? Understanding why there’s been a rapid deterioration over the last five years offers ideas for how tensions could be managed more effectively.
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When all you have is a defence hammer, what about some quality diplomacy?
‘When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail’ comes to mind upon the release of Australia’s 2020 Defence Strategic Update, continuing the tendency to view international issues mainly through a security lens. (more…)
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MELISSA CONLEY TYLER & PRAVIN SILVA: Building Asia-Australia Engagement through the New Colombo Plan
The New Colombo Plan has celebrated its first five years funding Australian students to study and work in the Indo-Pacific. As a high-profile Australian Government program, what has it achieved? And what do we know about its wider impact? (more…)
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MELISSA CONLEY TYLER and MITCHELL VANDEWERDT-HOLMAN. Diplomacy Needed to Stop Australia’s Declining Power
We spend our days looking at short-term economic indicators, such as the Reserve Bank’s decision on the cash rate or whether Australia has entered a recession. This means we don’t pay enough attention to the longer-term trend: that Australia’s economy is inevitably in relative decline compared to its Asian neighbours.
To maintain its influence, Australia will have to invest in other elements of national power, most obviously in its under-resourced diplomatic capacity. (more…)
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MELISSA CONLEY TYLER. Will Hugh White Change How We Defend Australia?
Australia’s options for defending itself are in the news with the release of Hugh White’s How to Defend Australia. Will it shake up thinking? Or is it too hard to change the way we do Australia’s defence because there is no appetite for change? (more…)