I'll also note that I slightly misspoke towards the end of the interview: I forgot that Australia & Indonesia already have annual 2+2 meetings, but I think the point I was trying to make about deeper political and institutional integration still holds up.

monocle.com/radio/shows/...

Again, this isn't about playing one group off against another or making value judgements; I'm simply curious. I expect there's a market size aspect to it, but I also don't know what I don't know. Am I looking for something that doesn't exist?

In short: what are others listening to?

An example that comes to mind is Curtin's Cast by the John Curtin Research Centre, but I'm sure there must be more. There are others like Politics with Michelle Grattan, or Democracy Sausage, but Professors Grattan and Kenny come to this with very extensive journalistic careers.

That is, insights and analysis principally from practitioners, former parliamentarians etc. rather than journos.

No disrespect to those who are/were working in the media, but it seems to me that's just one category of assessments that is already very well catered for, whether in print or pod.

"It's not a mutual defence treaty similar to what we have with the USA and now with PNG, but it sits at the category just below that...It's a great marker of success for Australian diplomacy."

@canberratimes.bsky.social @gracecrivellaro.bsky.social

www.canberratimes.com.au/story/911083...

"I think this is a real diplomatic coup for the Albanese government to sign an agreement of this nature with a country of this size and significance to Australia's future."

@asia.nikkei.com @sophiemak.bsky.social

asia.nikkei.com/politics/int...

"The new security treaty...may turn out to be the most significant security partnership Australia has established under PM Albanese — with the potential to even exceed the impact of the Pukpuk Treaty with PNG"

@stephendziedzic.bsky.social @livcaisley.bsky.social

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...

More from Olivia Caisley, Tim Swanston, and @stephendziedzic.bsky.social here 👇 (2/2)

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...

And finally, Director of the Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation, Kathryn McMullan, spoke with Sally Bulkeley on yesterday's episode of the #NatSecPod

nsc.anu.edu.au/podcast/seei...

Next, we hosted Heather Cook, CEO of the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, at the @nscanu.bsky.social last night to launch a new report on the economic impacts of serious and organised crime. Reporting here from ABC News' @livcaisley.bsky.social:

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...

First, Director-General of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, Mike Burgess, delivered the 2025 Lowy Lecture for @lowyinstitute.bsky.social on Tuesday night.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR8o...

True! I'm not sure if/when the structural inertia can/will be overcome, though. That's one of my biggest concerns - whether we can make space for less conventional perspectives in an unconventional age when the system is (seemingly) being pulled apart quicker than we can react.

Read the full article here:

www.smh.com.au/world/north-...

Managing that turmoil will be exceptionally difficult for allied governments, officials, and polities. We have to think in very different terms as the relationship shifts to an interests-driven framing, not values, for the first time in many of our professional lives.

Of course, a meeting is not the be all and end all. The underlying tensions in the relationship remain - particularly the future of the US and it's international leadership, domestic political stability, and the harm inflicted on its institutions and people.

In this instance, also, patience on securing a meeting seems to have paid off. Even if Trump hadn't cancelled the scheduled meeting at the G7, what are the odds that it would've gone better, on the whole, than yesterday's one at the White House?