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As the 55th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders' Meeting opens in Palau, the region faces a series of major challenges. These include a Chinese missile test that the Forum couldn’t agree to condemn, a contested region-wide security treaty, Taiwan's return to the Forum, an El Niño event, and a global fuel crisis.

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Oliver Nobetau is joined by Dr Connor Graham and Sarah Thompson to examine what these developments mean for Pacific security, regional unity, and economic resilience.

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The 2026 Allan Gyngell Lecture was delivered by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Penny Wong. Senator Wong paid tribute to Allan Gyngell’s influence on her thinking, reflected on multiculturalism as a source of national strength, and framed Australia’s strategic choices in an increasingly uncertain world. 

Following her address, the Foreign Minister joined the Lowy Institute's Executive Director, Dr Michael Fullilove AM for a conversation. They discussed  the stabilisation of Australia's relationship with China, AUKUS, Senator Wong’s dealings with the Trump administration and Secretary Rubio, and the declining relevance of the United Nations. 

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As great powers race for the critical minerals scattered on the ocean floor, the Pacific is splitting into two camps — those betting on deep-sea mining as an economic lifeline, and those warning the environmental risks are too great. In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Dr Connor Graham speaks with Dr Philippa Louey, Senior Research Associate at the Lancaster Environment Centre, about what's driving the rush, where Australia fits in, and whether the region can find common ground before mining starts.

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Southeast Asia has become the connector economy of the global tech race — building the chips, batteries, and clean energy components for which both Washington and Beijing now compete. But as US–China tensions harden into economic security policy, the region’s most valuable supply chains are being squeezed from both sides. In this episode of Development Futures, Research Fellow Robert Walker joins Roland Rajah to discuss which strategic industries are worth backing, which aren’t, and why decarbonisation might be the region’s smartest long-term play.

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The Australia–India relationship has taken on growing significance in recent years, a point echoed by policy leaders as they welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his recent visit.

Hear from leading experts as they analyse the recent visit by PM Modi and explore how the two countries can deepen their collaboration and work together in a range of strategic areas. The panellists discuss the opportunities and challenges across defence, trade, investment and energy.

The conversation will be led by Shruti Pandalai, the inaugural Lowy Institute India Chair, and feature Dhruva Jaishankar, the inaugural Dr Ram Sethi Fellow at the Lowy Institute and Executive Director of Observer Research Foundation America.

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China blocked trade, froze out ministers, and left lobsters rotting on the tarmac, and still couldn't force Australia to budge. In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, former Australian ambassador to Beijing Graham Fletcher joins Research Director Mihai Sora to discuss what "stabilisation" really means for the Australia–China relationship — from rare earths and the Port of Darwin to Taiwan and the ever-present shadow cast from Washington. Fletcher argues the current "sweet spot" is harder won — and more fragile — than it looks.

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The way authoritarian and illiberal states interact has changed. China, Russia, Iran and North Korea have gone from defending themselves against perceived liberal pressure to actively building the institutions of an alternative order. In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Nick Bisley, the author of a new Lowy Institute paper analysing this cooperation, speaks with the Institute's Sam Roggeveen about the boot camps teaching authoritarian states how to control information, the improbable rise of BRICS, and why this messy, opportunistic coalition might be harder to counter than a formal alliance ever was.

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India matters to Australia more than ever — as a strategic partner, a major trading economy, and a fellow member of the Quad — at a moment when Indo-Pacific security is deeply contested. Hear from leading experts as they examine the India–Australia relationship and how the two countries can deepen their collaboration to help shape a secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific.

Building on the momentum of Prime Minister Modi's recent visit to Australia, the panel explores the evolving architecture of defence cooperation between the two nations, and whether this partnership is consolidating into a strategic entente capable of meeting the demands of an increasingly contested region.

The conversation was moderated by Sam Roggeveen, Director of the Lowy Institute’s International Security Program, and featured Dhruva Jaishankar, the inaugural Dr Ram Sethi Fellow at the Lowy Institute and Executive Director of Observer Research Foundation America, as well as Shruti Pandalai, the inaugural Lowy Institute India Chair.

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Australia calls itself the Pacific's partner of choice. But is the relationship built on mutual understanding, or is it driven by Canberra’s anxiety about China? 

Professor Joanne Wallis, the author of a new book with Jack Corbett, Neighbours, joins the Lowy Institute’s Serena Sasingian to discuss Australia's uneasy colonial history in the region, the gap between its "Pacific family" rhetoric and its strategy of denial, and why aid hasn't bought the influence Canberra hoped for. 

Wallis makes the case for a different frame altogether: not family, not chessboard, but neighbours.

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Power politics is intensifying. Economies are sputtering. Living standards are falling. Societal change is dizzying. When Australians look at the world today, they don’t like what they see. 

Now in its 22nd year, the 2026 Lowy Institute Poll captures how Australians feel about a world order that is rapidly slipping away.

With economic pessimism on the rise and feelings of safety deteriorating, Australians have come to see the United States and China as two superpowers they distrust in equal measure.

As the liberal international order gives way to something that is illiberal and disorderly, the Poll offers insight into how the public feels about Australia’s place in a more troubling world.

Hear from the Poll's author, Charles Lyons-Jones, alongside the Hon Dr Andrew Leigh, Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition and Charities and Nicola Smith, Canberra Bureau Chief of the Australian Financial Review. 

This event was recorded on Thursday 2 July 2026 at the National Press Club in Canberra.

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What can Southeast Asia learn from the conflict in the Persian Gulf and should we be worried about the next maritime flashpoint closer to home?

At a Lowy Institute event at the National Press Club, Sam Roggeveen was joined by three leading Southeast Asia experts to explore Asia's maritime hotspots.

They discussed the economic shockwaves from the Strait of Hormuz conflict, the very different dynamics of the Strait of Malacca, the Taiwan contingency and what it means for regional states, and the persistent question of whether AUKUS is stabilising or complicating the region's security environment.

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Global progress on gender equality is stalling, and in some places going backwards. The World Economic Forum estimates that, at current rates, Asia and the Pacific won't reach gender parity for 179 years. In this episode, host Roland Rajah is joined by Grace Stanhope (Lowy Institute) and Professor Katrina Lee-Koo (University of Queensland) to analyse why gender equality is under siege. They discuss shrinking aid budgets, the politicisation of gender in foreign policy, and the retreat of the United States from global development. They ask what's working, why "gender mainstreaming" might have hit its limits, and where Australia could make an outsized difference as a middle power. 

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It's been the busiest fortnight in Australia–Pacific diplomacy in recent memory. In the space of ten days, Australia signed the Nakamal Agreement with Vanuatu, the Vuvale Union and a surprise Ocean of Peace Alliance with Fiji, and saw the Pukpuk Treaty with Papua New Guinea come into effect — all while marking Solomon Islands Independence Day and flagging a comprehensive treaty with Honiara by year's end.

On the very same day the Fiji deals were signed, China tested a submarine-launched ballistic missile over the Pacific, sparking claims of a deliberate signal to the region.

Sam Roggeveen is joined by Dr Connor Graham to unpack the missile test, why Pacific nations have responded more cautiously than Australia and New Zealand, and what China really wants from the region.

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As India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Australia for the third time, new Lowy Institute polling reveals a curious paradox: Australians now trust India more than the United States or China, yet many Australians can't name its leader. The Lowy Institute’s Dr Ram Sethi Fellow, Dhruva Jaishankar, joins India Chair Shruti Pandalai to analyse what's driving the relationship's rapid growth in defence, trade and education — and why understanding remains stubbornly shallow.

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Australians increasingly see China as an economic partner rather than a security threat — while still bracing for it as a long-term military risk.

That's one of the striking findings from the 22nd Lowy Institute Poll, launched in Sydney. At the launch, Poll author Charlie Lyons-Jones joined Lowy Institute India Chair Shruti Pandalai and The Interpreter's Managing Editor Dan Flitton, moderated by Research Director Mihai Sora, to unpack a poll that shows record numbers of Australians feeling unsafe in the world, trust in the US at an all-time low, and the gap between how much Australians trust America and China narrowing to just three points.

The panel covers Australians' growing sense of insecurity in the world, with 53 per cent now saying they feel unsafe, a record high for the poll. Trust in the US has fallen to a record low of 31 per cent, while trust in China has climbed to 28 per cent, narrowing the gap between the two powers to just three points. Support for AUKUS remains firm despite wavering confidence in Washington, and a majority of Australians still back the US alliance even as confidence in President Trump collapses. The panel also discusses Australian attitudes to India ahead of Prime Minister Modi's visit, and what that visit needs to achieve. They explore waning public support for Ukraine as the war drags on, rising concern that the risks of AI outweigh its benefits, and what the poll's findings on climate concern reveal about the mood driving Australian politics.

Read the full 2026 Lowy Institute Poll at lowyinstitute.org.

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Southeast Asia has always sat at the intersection of great power competition, but the pressures bearing down on the region today are testing its institutions, alliances and sense of common purpose like never before. Since the United States went to war with Iran and blockaded the Strait of Hormuz, soaring fuel and fertiliser costs have pushed several Southeast Asian nations into a state of emergency. Border tensions, the ongoing civil war in Myanmar, and an increasingly fierce rivalry between Washington and Beijing are all straining the region's capacity to hold together.

In this episode, Lowy Institute Southeast Asia Program Director Hunter Marston speaks with two of the region's leading analysts — Dr Lina Alexandra from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta and Dr Ja-Ian Chong from the National University of Singapore — about what Southeast Asia needs to do to maintain its relevance, its unity, and its peace.

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Southeast Asia’s economic and geostrategic significance is on the rise, but China’s expanding dominance and a more transactional United States are challenging the region’s future. As Washington and Beijing force unwanted choices on Southeast Asia, regional states are struggling to defend the open and interconnected order that undergirds their security and prosperity. Hear from international experts about how Southeast Asian countries are navigating China’s growing power, increasing uncertainty from the United States, and a more fragmented global order.

Featuring Lowy Institute Research Director Dr Hunter Marston, Dr Lina Alexandra from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies Indonesia, and Dr Ja-Ian Chong from the National University of Singapore, and moderated by Senior Fellow Richard McGregor.

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Great power competition, maritime expansionism, and disruptions to global supply chains are heightening geopolitical tensions in the Indo-Pacific. Many observers question whether the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is capable of responding to a crisis or conflict in the region. The Lowy Institute hosts three leading experts to discuss traditional and non-traditional security challenges in the Indo-Pacific, existing crisis coordination mechanisms and gaps in regional response capabilities.

The conversation features Dr Bec Strating, Don McLain Gill, and Murni Abdul Hamid and is moderated by Dr Hunter Marston, Director of the Southeast Asia Program. 

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The New START Treaty has expired, China is quadrupling its nuclear arsenal, and the Trump administration has yet to prioritise arms control. Rose Gottemoeller, a former chief US negotiator of New START and ex-Deputy Secretary General of NATO, speaks with the Lowy Institute’s Sam Roggeveen about the growing risks of a three-way nuclear stand-off, what the wars in Ukraine and Iran reveal about the future of warfare, and why she will always be a believer in arms control agreements.

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India has never mattered more to Australia — as a strategic partner, a major trading economy, and a fellow Quad member. In this event, recorded on 28 May 2026, leading experts discuss the Australia–India relationship and what it will take for both countries to deepen collaboration and help shape a secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific.

The discussion was moderated by Dr Michael Fullilove, Executive Director of the Lowy Institute, and will feature Dr Samir Saran, President of the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) — one of Asia's most influential think tanks — Dr Shruti Pandalai, inaugural Lowy Institute India Chair, and Ryan Neelam, CEO of the Centre for Australia–India Relations.

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"On pretty much every measure, Putin is failing and he doesn't really have a lot of options moving forward." 

Russia is losing ground, its defence industry has plateaued, and Ukraine is striking deeper into Russian territory than at any point in the war. So what does that mean for how the conflict ends — and what can Australia learn from the battlefields of Europe and the Middle East?

Lowy Institute Senior Fellow for Military Studies Mick Ryan joins International Security Program Director Sam Roggeveen to assess the shifting momentum in the Ukraine war, the emergence of a new theory of offensive operations, and why Western militaries — Australia included — are failing to absorb the lessons of modern warfare.

Mick's latest Lowy Institute analysis paper, Modern war and the systemic learning deficit in Western military institutions, is available free on our website.

More on this topic:

• Ukraine is turning the tables, Financial Times, Christopher Miller and Max Seddon

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Sport can be one of the great unifying forces in international affairs. But is Australia making the most of its opportunities off the field? 

In this episode, Andrew Griffits speaks with Mark Falvo, Interim CEO of Netball Australia and one of Australia’s most experienced sporting administrators, about how Australia approaches major sporting events as tools of foreign policy. 

They also cover the diplomatic missed opportunities of the past, the soft power potential of the upcoming 2027 Netball World Cup and 2026 FIFA World Cup, Australia's sporting engagement with Asia and the Pacific, the legacy of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, and the contested line between sports diplomacy and sports-washing.

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The old international order is over, and a competition is underway to determine what comes next. In a discussion on his Lowy Institute Paper, Inflection Point: Biden, Trump, and the Future World Order, former Biden White House official Thomas Wright explained how there are now two Americas — one internationalist and the other America First — competing with each other to shape the world. Dr Wright argued that nations will need to hedge against this dramatic fluctuation in US strategy for many years to come. The discussion was moderated by Lowy Institute Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove.

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Myanmar has been in a state of violent upheaval since the military seized power in 2021, leading to a nationwide resistance and the collapse of vital state functions. Myanmar’s parliament recently convened for the first time in five years, with the former commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing appointed as president. Hunter Marston, Director of the Lowy Institute’s Southeast Asia Program, and Sean Turnell, a Senior Fellow in the Southeast Asia Program and former economic adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi, discuss the current state of the resistance in Myanmar, prospects for the country’s economy, and what the international community can do to encourage dialogue between all parties.

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Thomas Wright, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and former senior director at the National Security Council, joins Lowy Institute Director of International Security Sam Roggeveen to discuss the Iran conflict, the future of AUKUS, and what an era of alternating American foreign policies means for Australia and its allies. Dr Wright's Lowy Institute Paper, Inflection Point: Biden, Trump, and the Future World Order, is available now.

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On the eve of the upcoming Trump-Xi summit, Donald Trump's approach to China looks less like strategic competition and more like a search for a deal. In this episode, Richard McGregor speaks with Lowy Institute Nonresident Fellow and former Biden White House official, Thomas Wright, about what the Trump–Xi summit reveals, why the 2025 tariff war ended badly for Washington, and how the Democratic Party is reckoning with its own foreign policy legacy. Wright also makes the case that the world now faces not one American foreign policy, but two — and must plan accordingly.

You can access Tom Wright’s Lowy Institute Paper Inflection Point: Biden, Trump, and the Future World Order here: https://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/inflection-point-biden-trump-future-world-order

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For years, the conventional wisdom held that the United States retained a decisive lead over China in the technologies and industries that will define the 21st century. The 2025 report of the US–China Economic and Security Review Commission to Congress challenges that view, and its conclusions make for sobering reading.

Ahead of the Trump–Xi summit where trade and technology are on the table, the Commission finds that China has not only caught up with but in multiple sectors now leads advanced economies including the United States. From electric vehicles and solar panels to quantum computing pathways and pharmaceutical supply chains, Beijing’s combination of state direction, entrepreneurial competition, and sustained investment has produced results that Western policymakers are only beginning to reckon with.

In this episode, the Lowy Institute's Richard McGregor speaks with Randy Schriver and Mike Kuiken — vice-chairs of the Commission — about what their report found and what it means. They discuss China’s model of directed innovation, the case for a consolidated US economic statecraft entity, the multiple “choke points” China now holds over industrialised economies, and what sustained engagement in the Pacific, including by Australia, must look like to be effective. They also assess the military situation around Taiwan and the second-order implications of the ongoing conflict with Iran.

Randy Schriver served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs in the first Trump administration. Mike Kuiken is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and a former senior adviser to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

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The post–Cold War international order hasn't collapsed from a single shock. It's been deliberately unwound.

Thomas Wright, a former Senior Director for Strategic Planning in President Biden's National Security Council, argues that China, Russia, and the United States have each adopted foreign policies that broke the foundational restraints holding the system together. By historical measures, what's emerged has the hallmarks of a pre-war environment. 

Drawing on his time inside the White House, Dr Wright diagnoses how we got here and what may come next. From Xi Jinping's strategy of asymmetric economic dominance, to Putin's war of conquest in Europe, to Trump's redefinition of American alliances as transactional arrangements.

This event was hosted by Sam Roggeveen, Director of the Lowy Institute's International Security Program, in Melbourne on Wednesday 6 May 2026.

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International trade has faced multiple shocks in recent years, making the need to reform the architecture of global trade more urgent than ever. Aligning new trade rules with global net-zero ambitions will be crucial to providing the necessary incentives for firms and economies to decarbonise. Many have already recognised the need to “green” trade. But how to do it?

The Lowy Institute’s Grace Stanhope and Robert Walker are joined by Ryan Mulholland, a senior fellow for international economic policy at the US-based Center for American Progress, to discuss what green trade is, how it fits into global decarbonisation efforts, and how governments could go about designing green trade agreements. They also discuss how major economies like the United States and China fit into a green trade future, where Australia might fit, and what it’s like being at the forefront of negotiations.

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Further reading:

See Ryan’s latest work on green trade here: https://www.inettt.org/news-blog/unilateralism-in-trade-calls-for-a-new-approach-to-build-a-green-future

Robert’s latest work on green trade and implications for Australia here: https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/green-trade-partnerships-will-make-or-break-australia-s-renewable-superpower

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Samir Puri, former UK diplomat and author of Westlessness: The Great Global Rebalancing, joins Transnational Challenges Program Director Lydia Khalil to explore the long decline of Western dominance in world affairs. They discuss why the rise of the non-West is about far more than China's challenge to the United States, and how the BRICS bloc is reshaping global networks. They also explore what a more multipolar world means for a country like Australia — Western by heritage, but increasingly embedded in Asia.

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Australia's appetite for methamphetamine and cocaine is reshaping Pacific communities, turning island nations into key transit points on a global drug superhighway, and exposing them to violence, corruption and addiction.

In this special panel discussion, the Lowy Institute's Oliver Nobetau is joined by three ABC Pacific Local Journalism Network reporters who have reported from the front lines of the crisis: Lice Movono in Fiji, Marian Kupu in Tonga, and Chrisnrita Aumanu-Leong in Solomon Islands. All three played a pivotal role in Foreign Correspondent's two-part investigation Cartel Paradise.

Drawing on their deep local knowledge and hard-won access, the reporters take us behind the scenes of a complex, multi-country collaboration. From gaining access to naval and intelligence operations in Fiji, to tracking narco subs in Solomon Islands, to examining how deportation policies are fuelling gang culture and drug networks in Tonga.

This event was recorded on Wednesday 22 April 2026.

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When Iran deterred shipping from the Strait of Hormuz following Operation Epic Fury, it sent shockwaves through global energy markets and exposed uncomfortable truths about Australia's dependence on maritime trade. 
 
Jennifer Parker, a Nonresident Fellow at the Lowy Institute and former Royal Australian Navy warfare officer, joins Research Fellow Charlie Lyons-Jones to explain what a naval blockade means for the crisis. They also unpack Australia’s new National Defence Strategy and discuss why Australia’s surface combatant fleet is the smallest it's been since the 1950s.

This episode was recorded on Wednesday 15 April 2026.

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Geopolitical strategist Parag Khanna joins the Lowy Institute's Sam Roggeveen to make sense of a world in flux.

In a wide-ranging conversation recorded on the day President Trump declared the Iran war nearly over, the pair discuss what the conflict reveals about multipolarity, why Mark Carney's Davos speech resonated more than expected, and why every attempt to unwind globalisation ends up deepening it.

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British Cabinet Minister the Rt Hon Darren Jones MP joins the Lowy Institute’s Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove AM for a wide-ranging conversation about politics, power and the transatlantic relationship.

Serving as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Minister for Intergovernmental Relations, and Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, Jones is one of the most senior figures in PM Keir Starmer's government.

In this episode, Darren Jones and Michael Fullilove discuss the MP’s rise from a council estate in Bristol to the Cabinet table, the lessons UK Labour learned from Hawke and Keating, and why people shouldn't underestimate Keir Starmer.

They also cover the challenge posed by Nigel Farage's Reform UK party, the long shadow of Brexit, how Britain navigates its alliance with President Trump's America, and the strategic logic of AUKUS.

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Stephen Biegun, former US Deputy Secretary of State and Trump administration chief North Korea negotiator, joins the Lowy Institute's International Security Program Director Sam Roggeveen at the National Press Club in Canberra for a wide-ranging conversation on American foreign policy.

They discuss President Trump's worldview and its roots in the 1980s, the historical precedents behind US policy on Greenland, the war with Iran, nuclear proliferation, and the health of American democratic institutions.

Biegun brings four decades of experience in government and the private sector to bear on some of the most pressing questions in international affairs today.

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Drone technology is now more accessible than ever. What was once the exclusive domain of state actors now falls within reach of nearly anyone with a credit card and a data signal. Domestic extremists are no exception — they are increasingly incorporating drones into attack plots, taking inspiration from the battlefield. Violent plots utilising drones have increased sharply over the past five years, but governments are underprepared.

In this episode, the Lowy Institute’s James Paterson and Lydia Khalil discuss their policy paper, The ungoverned sky: Drones and the domestic extremist threat, and outline their recommendations for how to address this growing challenge.

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In this Lowy Institute event held in Melbourne, former US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun offers his candid assessment of how the Trump White House views the Indo-Pacific.

Drawing on his experience as a son of Detroit and his deep knowledge of US trade and security policy, Stephen Biegun examines the forces reshaping Washington's approach to the region: from sweeping tariffs and alliance burden-sharing to the looming question of China.

Following his address, Stephen Biegun was joined in conversation by Lowy Institute Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove AM.

Stephen Biegun served as US Deputy Secretary of State and Special Representative for North Korea in the first Trump administration. He previously held senior roles at Ford Motor Company and the US Senate, and served on the National Security Council under President George W. Bush.

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What is the strategy driving Donald Trump's assertive use of American power?

In the 2026 Owen Harries Lecture, former US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen E Biegun offers a frank insider's assessment of President Trump's foreign policy across both his first and second terms.

He discusses President Trump's reorientation of US policy toward China, the Abraham Accords, his efforts to maximise pressure on Iran, and the dramatic raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Stephen Biegun traces the historical precedents behind President Trump's decisions and examines the logic, and the limits, of a foreign policy built on fear, leverage, and dealmaking.He argues that a strategy designed to produce fear in adversaries and respect from everyone must be accompanied by consistent reassurance to friends. 

Following the lecture, Stephen Biegun joined Lowy Institute Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove AM for a conversation exploring these themes further.

Since 2013, the annual Owen Harries Lecture has honoured the significant contribution made to the international debate in Australia and the United States by Owen Harries, who was a Nonresident Fellow at the Lowy Institute. This event is part of the Rothschild & Co Distinguished International Fellowship.

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Australia's cultural and strategic ties lie in the Western world and its economic links are overwhelmingly in North Asia. So what is Southeast Asia to Australia? Why does the region matter, and what should Australia do to overcome its long-sightedness?

Michael Wesley is one of Australia's most incisive observers of world affairs. On Wednesday 18 March 2026, he joined the Lowy Institute's Sam Roggeveen to discuss why Australia perennially overlooks Southeast Asia in its strategic and economic considerations.

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Lowy Institute Lead Economist Roland Rajah and Nonresident Fellow Jenny Gordon discuss the economic implications of the expanding conflict in Iran. They put recent events in context, unpacking how we should understand and address the ongoing geoeconomic shocks. 

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To mark International Women’s Day, Lowy Institute fellows Susannah Patton and Serena Sasingian speak with Lydia Khalil in a wide-ranging discussion on women in international relations. They explore how gender equality strategies fit into realist power politics, how the global rise of “strongman” politics is threatening hard-won gains for women worldwide, and the relationship between gender equality and national power. They also reflect on their own careers and offer ideas for what meaningful progress could look like.

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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney visited the Lowy Institute in Sydney for a special event on Wednesday 4 March 2026.

Speaking at a moment of acute global uncertainty, Prime Minister Carney reiterated his argument that the rules-based international order is not in transition but in rupture, and that middle powers like Canada and Australia cannot afford to wait for it to be restored. He outlined why sovereignty in the 21st century extends far beyond borders and defence, how middle powers can build collective strength through issue-based coalitions, and why legitimacy and trust are advantages the great powers cannot buy.

Prime Minister Carney also addressed the escalating conflict in the Middle East, Canada's recalibrated relationships with China, India, the United States, and United Nations, and his approach to dealing with President Trump.

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What went wrong with America's China strategy — and can it be fixed? 

In this Lowy Institute event, former US Assistant Secretary of Defense Ely Ratner traces America's long evolution from engagement to strategic competition. He delivers a pointed assessment of where the Trump administration has departed from that trajectory, and he sets out the implications for US allies, including Australia.

In conversation with the Lowy Institute's Sam Roggeveen, Dr Ratner also looks ahead to what a more serious US approach towards China would require.

This event was recorded at the State Library Victoria in Melbourne on Monday 16 February 2026.

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After barely a month, the year 2026 is already setting a bewildering geo-political pace. A presidential snatch-and-grab raid in Venezuela, anti-government riots in Iran, a fight over Greenland and a military upheaval in China have all buttressed Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney’s claim that the emerging new global order is a rupture, not a transition.

Hear from a panel of Lowy Institute experts as they examine what these diverse, dispersed events mean, both in and of themselves and for middle powers like Australia.

The panel was chaired by Richard McGregor, Senior Fellow for East Asia; and feature Susannah Patton, Director of the Southeast Asia Program and Project Lead for the Asia Power Index; James M. Zimmerman, a Beijing-based lawyer, author, and former Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China; and Andreas Radtke, a former German diplomat, and head of the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation in Australia.

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It has been just over a year since the Trump administration's dramatic cuts to America's foreign aid budget and the shuttering of USAID. With other major donors also slashing their aid programs — potentially causing 22 million additional avoidable deaths by 2030 — what does this mean for Australia's development efforts? A new OECD review of Australia's aid program provides a timely opportunity to assess the health and future direction of Australian development assistance.

The Lowy Institute’s Roland Rajah and Grace Stanhope are joined by Cameron Hill from the Development Policy Centre at the Australian National University and Bridi Rice, CEO of Development Intelligence Lab, to discuss the global aid landscape, Australia's comparative advantage in the region, and the tensions between short-term transactional wins and long-term transformational development.

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On 3 December, the Institute welcomed Senator Tim Ayres, Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science, to Bligh Street to launch the Australian Government’s National AI Plan. His speech outlined how we can harness the opportunities of AI, spread the benefits across society, and keep Australians safe.

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Watch this event on Youtube.

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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered a frank and impassioned speech at this year's World Economic Forum at Davos. He argued that in an era of great power competition, middle powers can no longer afford to maintain the fiction of a rules-based order. While never calling out President Trump by name, Carney highlighted the broader “rupture" in the global order.

Speaking with the Lowy Institute's Sam Roggeveen, Lydia Khalil discusses the value of rhetoric and dissects how Carney's remarks are being viewed in Canberra and other world capitals. While it has been much talked about, will Carney's speech shift how middle powers coordinate globally?

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More on this topic

• “Principled and pragmatic: Canada’s path”, Prime Minister Carney addresses the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting
• “A rupture, not a transition”:Carney’s new order, Sam Roggeveen, The Interpreter
  
• Nato without America: Europe ‘thinks the unthinkable’, Ben Hall and Henry Foy, Financial Times

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Troy Bramston is a senior writer at The Australian and author of the new biography Gough Whitlam: The Vista of the New — the first comprehensive biography of Australia's 21st prime minister since his death in 2014. Drawing on newly opened archives and more than 100 interviews, Bramston offers fresh insights into one of the most consequential periods in Australian history.

Speaking with the Lowy Institute's Director of Research David Dutton in Sydney, Bramston examines Whitlam's opening to China, the end of White Australia, independence for Papua New Guinea, and the complexities of East Timor and the alliance with the United States. He explores how Whitlam's realpolitik approach transformed Australian diplomacy and why his legacy continues to shape our approach to the region today.

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Professor Cynthia Miller-Idriss is a globally recognised expert on violent extremism and prevention, based at American University in Washington, DC. She is the author of a new book, Man Up: The New Misogyny and the Rise of Violent Extremism, which explores how misogyny is driving a surge in extremist violence throughout the West.

Speaking with the Lowy Institute's Lydia Khalil, Professor Miller-Idriss explains the five tactics of misogyny in extremist movements, why Gen Z men are increasingly rejecting women's rights, and what a public health approach to prevention looks like in practice.

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As part of the Lowy Institute Recast series, we are republishing the best podcasts of 2025. In case you missed them the first time around or if you want revisit these engaging conversations, the Recast series has you covered.

US Senator Chris Coons joined the Lowy Institute's Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove at the Institute's Bligh Street headquarters for a special episode of Lowy Institute Conversations. They discussed US President Donald Trump's forthcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the first 200 days of President Trump's foreign policy, AUKUS, defence spending, and Senator Coons' optimism about the Democrats’ electoral prospects in 2028. 

This episode was first published 15 August 2025.

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