Nick Bryant is a former BBC correspondent and the author of The Forever War, America’s Unending Conflict With Itself.
Unfortunately, politics has entered the shouting phase when it pays to be listening.
I’ve covered the aftermath of mass shootings and terrorist massacres, but never before in a setting cherished by so many as a happy place: Bondi.
As we pass the quarter-century mark, Australia has rested too much on the laurels of the Hawke/Keating/Howard reform era.
Since John Howard, no leader has fashioned a Liberal brand that could win the party consecutive election victories.
Far-right populism is succeeding in the US, Britain, France and Germany. Australia won’t inexorably travel the same path.
The fixation with the US alliance detracts from how Australia’s influence has grown over the course of the 21st century. The Oval Office meeting will not change that.
Three crucial referendums – the Voice, the republic and four-year parliamentary terms – have all been defeated, stymying the government’s appetite for reform.
The US is a nation crippled by mutual loathing. But no-one can find a bad word to say about the celebrated country singer.
Australia has become a popular destination for people fleeing Trump, Brexit and the politics of Marine Le Pen. But we have the potential to be so much more.
Australia has some strong buffers to the global rise of populism, but a political comeback for Jacinta Nampijinpa Price might strain them.