Marise Payne: charting the battle lines for Australian security

Alex Oliver, The Interpreter

Payne image from

Excerpt:

Comparisons are inevitable. ...

• Foreign Minister Marise Payne’s speech comes after a concerted run of major foreign and defence policy speeches, each laden with announcements as the major parties joust in unofficial campaign mode running up to the 2019 federal election. ...
• The New Colombo Plan: this was a signature initiative of Payne’s predecessor and an effective public diplomacy [JB emphasis] Australians’ Asia literacy by supporting scholarships for students to study and intern in the region.
• The Government’s broadcasting review and Foreign Affairs’ review of Australia’s soft power in the region weren’t mentioned in the speech. In answer to a question on them, Payne referred to the government’s plans to work with commercial partners to increase access to Australian content in the Pacific. Wong referred specifically to the cutting of public broadcasting to the Pacific and the need to remedy it. ...