Lowy Institute

The trust deficit: Why Australians' attitudes towards America and China are shifting 01.07.2026 1h 1min

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. More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Follow the Lowy Institute on our website, X, Instagram or LinkedIn.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Southeast Asia in the crossfire: Can ASEAN hold the line? 30.06.2026 28min

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. More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Follow the Lowy Institute on our website, X, Instagram or LinkedIn.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Whose rules, whose order? Southeast Asia and China’s growing power 16.06.2026 1h 1min

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. More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Follow the Lowy Institute on our website, X, Instagram or LinkedIn.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pressure test: Can ASEAN meet the Indo-Pacific's security challenges? 12.06.2026 1h 1min

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.  More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Follow the Lowy Institute on our website, X, Instagram or LinkedIn.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The nuclear arms race nobody is talking about 10.06.2026 28min

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. More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Follow the Lowy Institute on our website, X, Instagram or LinkedIn.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

India and Australia: Shaping economic and regional security 04.06.2026 1h 6min

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. More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Follow the Lowy Institute on our website, X, Instagram or LinkedIn.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The West's systemic failure to learn from modern war 02.06.2026 28min

"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 More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Follow the Lowy Institute on our website, X, Instagram or LinkedIn.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australia’s sports diplomacy playbook 28.05.2026 23min

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. More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Follow the Lowy Institute on our website, X, Instagram or LinkedIn.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A world with two Americas 25.05.2026 1h 4min

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. More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Follow the Lowy Institute on our website, X, Instagram or LinkedIn.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Myanmar at a crossroads: Five years after the coup 21.05.2026 23min

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. More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Follow the Lowy Institute on our website, X, Instagram or LinkedIn.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thomas Wright: From the White House to world disorder 20.05.2026 59min

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Trump-Xi summit: Has America abandoned strategic competition with China? 13.05.2026 24min

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 More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Follow the Lowy Institute on our website, X, Instagram or LinkedIn.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Catching up and pulling ahead: Inside America’s 2025 China report 12.05.2026 27min

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. More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Follow the Lowy Institute on our website, X, Instagram or LinkedIn.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After the unravelling: Confronting the new world order 07.05.2026 1h

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. More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Follow the Lowy Institute on our website, X, Instagram or LinkedIn.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A multilateral green trade pact? 04.05.2026 21min

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. More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Follow the Lowy Institute on our website, X, Instagram or LinkedIn. 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-superpowerSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The decline of the West: Samir Puri on “Westlessness” and the new global order 28.04.2026 27min

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. More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Follow the Lowy Institute on our website, X, Instagram or LinkedIn.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cartel Paradise: Unpacking the Pacific’s drug superhighway 23.04.2026 58min

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. More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Follow the Lowy Institute on our website, X, Instagram or LinkedIn.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Strait of Hormuz crisis: Iran, shipping, and Australia's strategy 16.04.2026 29min

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. More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Follow the Lowy Institute on our website, X, Instagram or LinkedIn.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Globalisation always wins: Parag Khanna on the emerging world order, Iran, and Asia's multipolar future 14.04.2026 27min

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. More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Follow the Lowy Institute on our website, X, Instagram or LinkedIn.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

British MP Darren Jones on Labour, Brexit and the United Kingdom's place in the world 09.04.2026 25min

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. More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Follow the Lowy Institute on our website, X, Instagram or LinkedIn.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.