Source — AITW Ep029 — Morrison Visits Trump; Prisoners in Iran; Energy Security; Fiji; Climate¶
Episode Metadata¶
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Episode number | 29 |
| Title | Ep. 29: PM Morrison visits the Trump White House; prisoners in Iran; energy security; a visit by Fiji's PM; climate change |
| Publication date | 2019-09-24 |
| Guests | None (Darren and Allan only) |
| Allan present | Yes |
| Format | Five-topic news analysis: White House visit, Iran prisoners, energy security, Fiji PM, climate; reading segment |
Summary¶
Dense five-topic episode recorded 23 September 2019. Allan's analysis of Morrison's White House visit is among the sharpest political commentary in the series — including the "graphene man" line replacing Trump's "titanium." A biographical fragment: he stayed at Blair House on an official visit to Washington with a previous Australian PM, almost certainly Keating. The climate section contains one of Allan's strongest statements about Australia's foreign policy self-marginalisation. Reading segment: a detailed recommendation of Julie Suarez's Chifley biography, which Allan reads as a guide for how a PM navigates international complexity against domestic resistance — implicit lessons for Morrison.
Key Quotations¶
Blair House — "hairs on your neck sort of prickle"¶
"I was never on a state visit in Washington, but I did stay at Blair House, the president's guest house on an official visit with another Australian Prime Minister years ago. And I can attest that the hairs on your neck sort of prickle as you look out the window onto the White House."
— [00:02:10.960 --> 00:03:44.000]
A direct biographical disclosure: Allan accompanied an Australian PM on an official visit to Washington and stayed at Blair House, the president's guest house. "Years ago" in 2019 and the consistent placement in Keating's office (1993–1996 window) makes this almost certainly a Keating visit to Washington. The sensory detail — "hairs on your neck sort of prickle" — is rare in Allan's register: usually analytic, here briefly personal. He lets the feeling carry its own meaning without elaborating on it.
Morrison as "the graphene man"¶
"I doubt that titanium line will stick. Morrison seems to me anyway to be more a man of flexible carbon alloy, the graphene man, perhaps. And I do say that with real admiration."
— [00:13:11.500 --> 00:14:24.500]
Trump called Morrison "a man of titanium." Allan replaces the metaphor with a more analytically precise material: graphene — flexible, light, extraordinarily strong when properly applied, not a conventional heavy metal. "I do say that with real admiration" — he means it. The wit here is doing genuine analytical work: Morrison's value is precisely his adaptability, his ability to find the right formulation for the right audience. Titanium is rigid; graphene bends.
Morrison's Iran language — "distancing without distancing"¶
"In one of my favorite lines, he noted, and I'm quoting him directly here, the other matters that are being pursued by the United States are matters that they are pursuing. So you can read into that a distancing of the Australian position from automatic shoulder-to-shoulder support for the US."
— [00:27:35.500 --> 00:30:16.500]
Allan identifies Morrison's most precise diplomatic manoeuvre: a sentence so carefully constructed that it says nothing while saying everything. "The other matters that are being pursued by the United States are matters that they are pursuing" — pure tautology, meaning-free, but unmistakably a signal that those matters are theirs, not Australia's. Allan calls it "one of my favourite lines" — he appreciates skilled speech-craft when he sees it.
Climate change — "neither Trump nor Xi"¶
"Neither Donald Trump nor Xi Jinping will have anything remotely like the long term influence on Australia's relations with the world as this. But the government's failure for reasons of internal disagreement to be able to frame a coherent policy... means, in my view, that it's marginalising itself from one of the core international debates of our time."
— [00:36:17.500 --> 00:37:48.950]
One of the stronger statements in the corpus. Allan ranks climate change above both great-power competition as a long-term driver of Australia's international position. The "marginalising itself" framing is pointed: Australia is not being excluded by others, it is excluding itself through domestic political dysfunction. "No multilateral diplomacy on this question" — a direct verdict.
Chifley recommendation — explicit parallel to Morrison¶
"How in a world which is changing fundamentally, where we're sometimes asked to go one way by our close partners, but our interests point in another, can Australia make its way?... one of the most useful contributions the book makes is explaining how Chifley himself, calm, plain-spoken, drawing on his own experiences, went about building community support for a position which set Australia up well for the following 50 years."
— [00:37:57.500 --> 00:40:49.350]
Allan chooses the Chifley biography for its contemporary relevance, not just historical interest. Chifley secured the World Bank and GATT against party opposition, backed Indonesian independence, built peace treaties with Germany and Japan — none of which had popular appeal. The parallel to Morrison's position is implicit but clear. "Not one of these positions had widespread popular appeal in Australia" — the challenge of doing necessary unpopular things in a democracy. Allan notes the book still carries "the weight of its origins as a PhD thesis" — characteristically honest about a work he is otherwise endorsing.
The PM as chief diplomat — and Gareth Evans¶
"There's no doubt that the Prime Minister is the key player in foreign policy, no matter who the occupant of the position is... You know, if you're defining the chief diplomat as the chief negotiator, that can be different sometimes. I suppose Gareth Evans played that role for Hawke and Keating and Casey for Menzies, Julie Bishop too at times, I suppose."
— [00:21:31.400 --> 00:22:25.500]
Allan names Gareth Evans explicitly as the model of the powerful Foreign Minister who operates as chief negotiator while the PM retains ultimate authority. The "I suppose" qualifiers on Bishop are characteristic: measured credit, not wholehearted. The PM's primacy is structural — "the Prime Minister alone can speak authoritatively for the government as a whole." He adds the pointed note that Australia's head of state only represents the United Kingdom when she travels — a gentle republican jab.
Australia's practice — opposition at official dinners¶
"In Canberra, the leader of the opposition always has a formal speaking slot in the dinner program in the Great Hall of Parliament House whenever we have an official visit. But that's to emphasize that to the visitor that the welcome is national rather than simply from the party in power. And in contrast, I couldn't see any senior Democrat in the Rose Garden dinner."
— [00:06:13.500 --> 00:07:03.500]
Allan notes this Australian practice apparently from familiarity — he has observed or participated in official dinners in Canberra. The contrast with the Washington dinner (no senior Democrat visible) is analytical: it shows how politicised US official hospitality has become. A detail that reveals both his institutional knowledge and his standards for what proper diplomatic practice looks like.
Biographical Fragments¶
Evidence type: Confirmed
-
Stayed at Blair House on an official visit with an Australian PM — "I did stay at Blair House, the president's guest house on an official visit with another Australian Prime Minister years ago." Blair House is reserved for visiting heads of state and government parties on official visits to Washington. Allan was part of an Australian PM's party. Given his confirmed Keating placement (1993–1996), this was almost certainly a Keating visit to Washington — Keating had official visits in 1993 and 1995. (Ep029)
-
Has direct memory of Hawke-Reagan, Keating-Clinton, and Howard-Bush relationships — cited as evidence for how personal leader relationships can matter: "Howard and Bush... gave us the free trade agreement and Australia's participation in the G20. Keating's relationship with Bill Clinton delivered APEC leaders meetings. Some... like Bob Hawke and Ronald Reagan got on very well, despite coming from very different liturgical backgrounds." This level of first-person familiarity with Keating-Clinton is consistent with his PM's office placement. (Ep029)
Style and Method Evidence¶
- "Graphene man": Replaces Trump's metaphor with a more analytically apt one. Allan's wit here is doing genuine conceptual work — the choice of graphene (flexible strength) over titanium (rigid strength) captures something true about Morrison's political style.
- Speech-craft appreciation: "One of my favourite lines" on Morrison's Iran tautology — he identifies and names good diplomatic language when he sees it, the same analytical eye he applied to Keating's speeches.
- Historical scaling: On climate change — "neither Donald Trump nor Xi Jinping will have anything remotely like the long term influence... as this." Putting climate above great-power competition in the long-term stakes is a considered analytical judgment, not a political statement.
- Chifley as a contemporary guide: Allan reads the biography prescriptively — Chifley's method of building community support for difficult necessary policies is presented as a model for Morrison.
Reading, Listening and Watching¶
Allan — Julie Suarez, J.B. Chifley: An Ardent Internationalist (Melbourne University Press, 2019)
"I've been reading J.B. Chifley, an ardent internationalist by Julie Suarez... one of the most useful contributions the book makes is explaining how Chifley himself, calm, plain-spoken, drawing on his own experiences, went about building community support for a position which set Australia up well for the following 50 years."
A substantial recommendation with extended commentary. Allan frames it explicitly as a parallel to Morrison's current challenges. He praises Suarez for restoring Chifley to a central place alongside Evatt in Australia's post-war foreign policy story. Notes the book "still carries some of the weight of its origins as a PhD thesis" — a hedge that does not diminish his genuine admiration. The qualities he identifies in Chifley — "calm, plain-spoken, drawing on his own experiences" — are, notably, also qualities Allan himself exhibits.
Open Questions¶
- Which Australian PM did Allan accompany to Washington for the Blair House official visit? Almost certainly Keating (1993 or 1995 visits), consistent with his international advisor role. Any further dating evidence in later episodes?
- Allan mentions Hawke and Reagan "getting on very well despite coming from very different liturgical backgrounds" — the word "liturgical" is odd here. Likely "ideological" — a transcription artefact from "ideological." Worth flagging.
- Does Allan return to the Chifley parallel in later episodes — particularly as the Morrison government's climate position continues to generate international friction?