Lowy Institute

With the US election in the rear view mirror and an Australian federal election just ahead, the Lowy Institute has released selected results from the 2025 Lowy Institute Poll. The findings provide a snapshot of Australians’ changing attitudes towards the United States, and their assessments of the prime ministerial candidates' foreign policy abilities. Ryan Neelam, Director of Public Opinion and Foreign Policy, talks with host Lydia Khalil to put these early poll results into context.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Lowy Institute was honoured to host His Excellency Surangel Whipps Jnr, President of the Republic of Palau, to deliver the 2025 FDC Pacific Leaders’ Address. Since taking office in 2021, President Whipps has been a champion of Pacific leadership on regional security, climate, marine conservation and trade and economic issues. He shares Palau’s perspective on the evolving strategic landscape in the Pacific, highlighting the impacts of recent geopolitical shifts and competition for regional influence, noting in particular Palau’s recognition of Taiwanese independence and its recently renewed Compact of Free Association with the United States. He also discusses emerging development partnership realities in the wake of the re-election of US President Donald Trump, the revisiting of US foreign aid relationships, and the new landscape for pursuing Pacific sustainable development objectives, including accelerating the energy transition towards a fossil-fuel-free Pacific, addressing proposals for Pacific deep seabed mining, and advancing climate adaptation and marine conservation efforts. With Australia bidding to co-host COP31 in 2026 with Pacific Island countries, President Whipps reflects on the critical importance of a real and robust partnership between Australia and its Pacific neighbours in confronting climate change and achieving ambitious and responsible global outcomes amid growing geopolitical headwinds.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two weeks ago, Myanmar was struck by a 7.7 magnitude earthquake that devastated much of the central heartland of the country. Already ravaged by civil war, the destruction and humanitarian crisis caused by the earthquake have brought the country to the brink. The Lowy Institute’s Hervé Lemahieu talks with Vicky Bowman CMG, the Director of the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business — and previously UK Ambassador to Myanmar and a political prisoner under its junta — to discuss the earthquake’s humanitarian and economic impact, prospects for a political settlement to the civil war, and how the International community can best engage the country from here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Amid a US retreat from the Pacific under President Donald Trump, and intense competition for regional influence between Australia and China, the Pacific faces mounting pressures from climate change, transnational crime, internal instability, and at times even political upheaval. Listen to an insightful panel discussion with the ABC’s in-country Pacific journalists working on the frontlines of the rapidly changing political and security landscape in our near region. Hosted by: Mihai Sora, Director, Pacific Islands Program, Lowy InstituteSpecial guest speakers: • Chrisnrita Aumanu-Leong, Solomon Islands correspondent • Belinda Kora, Papua New Guinea correspondent • Marian Kupu, Tonga correspondent • Lice Movono, Fiji correspondentThis special event coincides with the second anniversary of the founding of the Pacific Local Journalism Network (PLJN), a flagship program supported by ABC International Services under the ABC’s Indo-Pacific Broadcasting Strategy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lieutenant General Simon Stuart, the Chief of Army, delivered a special address before the Lowy Institute on Thursday 3 April 2025. He spoke about the state of the Army profession and proposed key actions to strengthen the institution. This is the third in a series of significant speeches from the Chief of Army. The first laid the theoretical foundations for the Army profession, while the second examined the historical, cultural and institutional challenges faced by the Army.  Following the address, the Lowy Institute’s Executive Director, Dr Michael Fullilove AM, chaired a Q&A session with the Chief of Army. Lieutenant General Simon Stuart, AO DSC, has more than 35 years of military experience, including leadership roles in operations, training, and capability development. He has commanded forces in East Timor, Afghanistan, and Egypt/Israel and most recently served as Head of Land Capability in Army Headquarters after commanding the Multinational Force and Observers. A graduate of the Royal Military College – Duntroon, UK Joint Services Command and Staff College, US Army War College, and Harvard Business School, he holds advanced degrees in Project Management, Defence Studies, and Strategy. He has been appointed Officer of the Order of Australia and awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hear from former senior NATO figure and arms control negotiator Rose Gottemoeller on the prospects for peace in Europe’s bloodiest conflict since the Second World War. Donald Trump arrived as US president promising a swift end to the war in Ukraine. But can the war end in a way that will be fair to Ukrainians, and which closes off opportunities for further Russian aggression? Rose Gottemoeller will address these complex questions and analyse the unfolding peace process. Rose Gottemoeller is the Lowy Institute’s 2025 Distinguished Fellow for International Security. She is currently the William J Perry Lecturer at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. Prior to this, she served as Deputy Secretary General of NATO from 2016 to 2019 and was Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security at the US State Department. In 2009 and 2010, she was chief US negotiator of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with the Russian Federation, due to expire in 2026.‍See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Since his election, foreign policy coverage has been dominated by US President Donald Trump. But there is a lot more going on in the world than Trump 2.0. Many important global developments are not getting the attention they deserve. The Lowy Institute’s Lydia Khalil and Daniel Flitton, Managing Editor of The Interpreter, highlight the stories you might have missed.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Former senior NATO figure and arms control negotiator Rose Gottemoeller delivered the 2025 Owen Harries Lecture on Monday 24 March in Sydney. She reflected on a new era of nuclear weapons competition. China is rapidly growing and modernising its nuclear arsenal while Russia has used nuclear sabre-rattling in its war in Ukraine. Rose Gottemoeller explores the advent of an unprecedented situation — three nuclear peers — and the implications for the United States and its allies. She will also discuss the possibilities for nuclear restraint and arms control.‍Since 2013, the Owen Harries Lecture has honoured the enormous contribution made to the international debate in Australia and the United States by Owen Harries, who was a Nonresident Fellow at the Lowy Institute.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Donald Trump has moved quickly to impose tariffs on literally every country in the world. Trump’s tariffs against Australia are not only affecting matters of trade; they potentially infringe Australian sovereignty. The Lowy Institute’s Lead Economist Roland Rajah sits down with Dr Jenny Gordon, Lowy Institute Nonresident Fellow and Honorary Professor at the Australian National University, to discuss the economics and peculiar logic behind Trump’s tariff plans, what it means for smaller countries like Australia, and how they should respond.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hear Lowy Institute and Carnegie Endowment experts discuss the most pressing topic in Australian foreign policy: the future of the alliance with United States. The AUKUS agreement of September 2021 raised the US-Australia alliance to unprecedented levels of cooperation and alignment. But the first two months of the Trump Administration – particularly its Ukraine policy and relations with its neighbour and ally Canada – have raised fundamental questions about the future of American foreign policy and its attitudes towards traditional partners such as Australia.Some of the authors of a recent Carnegie Asia Program report — Evan A. Feigenbaum, Vice President for Studies at the Carnegie Endowment; Courtney Stewart, Senior Managing Consultant at OCRT; and Matthew Sussex, Associate Professor (Adjunct) at Griffith University — discuss these and other questions with Sam Roggeveen, Director of the Lowy Institute’s International Security Program, in an event moderated by Susannah Patton, Director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Lowy Institute.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.