Australia has proven its alignment with the United States on many occasions, most recently in Afghanistan and Iraq. However, our alliance with the United States should not trap us in a position that is detrimental to our interests.

Forty years since five departments were consolidated to create the Department of Defence, it is now celebrated and divisive politics are long-forgotten. The creation of Home Affairs should too enable a more strategic and integrated approach to public policy.

While aspects of India’s foreign policy are evolving, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has referenced Indian history in his renewed focus on oceans. As well as integrating India into the regional architecture, more can be done by India and Australia to deepen the Indo-Pacific landscape.

Australia never once purported to exercise its right to grant diplomatic asylum despite quite exceptionally choosing to assert the existence of that right. Other countries that denied the existence of such a right nevertheless granted it in practice.

The Solomon Islands is coming under pressure to shift its diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China. In an interview with the ABC, Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare admitted that his country is being pressured to recognise Beijing, but that there is an equally strong push for the Solomons to stick with Taiwan: especially from Australia.

Certain commentators have argued that immigration intakes will eventually start to shape the foreign policy of a recipient country. But in the case of Australia and its growing Asian minority, adaptation has been slow to occur, with some decisions actually being contrary to what one would expect from more Asia-sensitive governments.

Australia is misguided in its concerns over China’s expansion and “debt-trap diplomacy” in the Pacific.

Despite Australia’s record funding in gender equality and empowerment in overseas development assistance in recent years, much more needs to be done to boost gender equality as a mainstream objective in the health aid sector.

Australia has retained its ranking of 13th position in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index for 2018.

Although microfinance was hailed as an important step for women’s empowerment, research has yielded conflicting evidence.

Despite having a robust body of laws to deal with trafficking, labour exploitation and slavery-like conditions, Australia was quick to import the modern slavery legislative model from the United Kingdom.