The 2022 Australian federal election takes place at a time of global turmoil – a brutal war in Ukraine, confrontational relations between authoritarian China and the democratic West, the economic, political and human toll of the pandemic, and accelerating climate change. How to navigate this rapidly shifting and dangerous new era will be a more prominent feature of campaigning than in recent past elections. The times are consequential, the foreign policy stakes are high. 

Asia Society Australia is pleased to publish a series of election policy briefs to help illuminate these issues and the positions of the major parties on them. Our intent is to capture the most significant foreign policy issues that will shape our engagement with Asia in the future and to contribute to an informed election debate on them. Our authors are drawn from the Asia Society Australia family and from the academic and think tank community. The views expressed are the authors own and do not necessarily represent their organisations or Asia Society Australia.

The briefs will be published progressively as the campaign proceeds. They will be complemented by our Federal Election and Australia’s Foreign Policy: What’s at Stake? event in Sydney and streaming online on 28 April, and conclude with a statement on Asia policy from Asia Society Australia CEO Philipp Ivanov.

• Supporting regional recovery and resilience — Bridi Rice, CEO, Development Intelligence Lab
• Supply chains — Hermione Parsons, Director of the Institute for Supply Chain and Logistics, Victoria University
• Trade — Justin Brown, former Deputy Secretary Trade, Investment and Economics, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
• Defence — Guy Boekenstein, Northern Australia Fellow, Australia Society Australia
• Diplomacy/statecraft — Melissa Conley-Tyler, Program Lead, Asia-Pacific Development, Diplomacy & Defence Dialogue
• Cybersecurity — Dr Harry Rolf, Centre Manager at Tech Policy Design Centre, Australian National University
• China — Richard Maude, Executive Director, Policy, Asia Society Australia
• Southeast Asia and ASEAN — Caitlin Byrne, Director, Griffith Asia Institute
• Climate change/clean energy — Patrick Suckling, former Australian Ambassador for the Environment
• Human Rights — Dominique Fraser, Research Associate, Asia Society Policy Institute