Source — AITW Ep051 — Lowy Poll 2020; India-China; DFAT's Travel Advice; Allan's Brush with Tabloid Fame¶

Episode Metadata¶

Field	Value
Episode number	51
Title	Lowy Poll 2020; India-China; DFAT's travel advice for China; Allan's brush with tabloid fame
Publication date	2020-07-04
Recording date	Thursday, 2 July 2020 (Darren: "It's Thursday, the 2nd of July today")
Guests	None — Allan and Darren only
Allan present	Yes
Format	Regular discussion — four topics

Summary¶

Four topics: (1) the 2020 Lowy Poll; (2) India-China border tensions (Ladakh, 15 June 2020); (3) Australia-China cyber and espionage allegations, including DFAT Smart Traveller advice; (4) Allan's "brush with tabloid fame" — the Daily Telegraph/Herald Sun "Beijing Besties" front page story. The fourth topic is the centrepiece and the most personally revealing episode since Ep050: Allan was invited to brief the ALP Shadow Cabinet on Australia-China relations; a tabloid story accused him of being a lobbyist for the "pro-Beijing think tank" China Matters; he responds with characteristic precision and uncharacteristic heat. The Wolverines remark is the one thing he confirms he said, and it is one of the sharpest single-sentence political critiques in the corpus. "I have precisely zero political or professional ambitions that might be damaged by such attacks" is the most compressed self-portrait of the corpus. Reading segment: Bob Dylan — Rough and Rowdy Ways (2020).

Key Quotations¶

"As though they were a bunch of high school students out there holding the CHICOMS at bay"¶

"It is true, as listeners to the podcast heard me say a couple of weeks ago, that I said I thought the self-description by a bunch of Australian lawmakers, senators and members of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia as the Wolverines, as though they were a bunch of high school students out there holding the CHICOMS at bay, trivialises the most serious issue facing Australian statecraft, as though it was simply a video game."

— [00:27:13.760 --> 00:30:21.760]

The one thing Allan confirms he said at the Shadow Cabinet briefing — and he stands by it completely. The target is precise: it is not the substance of the Wolverines' positions that he objects to, but the framing, the self-branding, the video-game aesthetic. "The most serious issue facing Australian statecraft" should not be treated as a Marvel franchise. "CHICOMS" — a Cold War term — is deployed with ironic distance, marking the self-description as belonging to a past era of ideological combat. "Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia" — the full formal name — is deliberate: these are legislators, not Twitter accounts. One of the most direct political critiques in the corpus, and all the more striking because Allan is normally circumspect about named political actors.

"I have precisely zero political or professional ambitions that might be damaged by such attacks"¶

"Luckily I've been around Australian politics and the media for long enough not to be phased by this sort of thing. Tabloid newspaper editors and journalists who don't know me are not among the group of people whose views I care very much about. In any case I have precisely zero political or professional ambitions that might be damaged by such attacks."

— [00:27:13.760 --> 00:30:21.760]

Three sentences that together constitute the most compressed self-portrait in the corpus. The first: career-long resilience ("around Australian politics and the media for long enough"). The second: peer calibration — whose views matter to Allan and whose do not. The third: explicit declaration that he has nothing at stake in conventional career terms. "Precisely zero" is characteristic — not "no particular" or "very few" but mathematically, exactly none. He is not performing indifference; he is reporting it. The combination of these three sentences signals a specific stage of career: senior enough not to need anything from anyone, confident enough in his network that tabloid opinion is noise.

"Creeping McCarthyism"¶

"The experience was also a reminder of creeping McCarthyism that we're seeing in Australia when groups as resolutely mainstream as China Matters become attacked as agents of influence of the Chinese government and business people are harassed into silence about their interests for fear of being tarred as un-Australian."

— [00:27:13.760 --> 00:30:21.760]

"Creeping McCarthyism" is among the strongest political characterisations Allan deploys in the corpus — he normally favours more analytical framing. "Resolutely mainstream" is a precise description, not a defence of China Matters' every position but a category claim: this is not a fringe body. The concern extends to Chinese-Australians: "fanning suspicions in the broader community about Chinese-Australians" — a phrase that situates the media campaign in a broader social harm beyond Allan personally. His closing observation — "the media and political proponents behind these attacks don't even seem to recognise those views they disagree with while criticising China's own intellectual repression" — lands as hypocrisy indictment.

"The poll has now done what I always hoped"¶

"I think the poll has now done what I always hoped, which is to give us solid empirical evidence over time of how Australians see the world and how their views are changing."

— [00:02:50.320 --> 00:06:41.520]

Allan as founder of the Lowy Poll assessing his own creation a decade and more on. "What I always hoped" is unusually personal — a founding intention now vindicated by data. The 2020 finding he singles out as most significant: the "feel safe" question, first asked in 2005 at 91%, now collapsed to 50% — "the most interesting change for me this year." His comment on Indonesia is separately notable: "every year I look at the poll, every year I see just 39% of respondents... think that Indonesia is a democracy." He adds: "in my view, the Australian people don't always get it right." Rare for him to say this directly — he usually frames it as an information or framing problem.

"Too soon to tell"¶

[On India banning TikTok and Chinese apps following the Ladakh border clash:] Allan: "It's another significant sign of international decoupling in a technological sense, but I think I'll take refuge in too soon to tell."

— [00:19:39.760 --> 00:19:47.760]

A characteristic hedge phrase — "I'll take refuge in too soon to tell" — but notable here because it is self-aware and slightly comic: "I'll take refuge in" signals that he knows he is using a formula, and flags it deliberately. Deployed after Darren makes a strong analytical claim; Allan's refusal to validate it is itself a verdict.

Biographical Fragments¶

Evidence type: New — tabloid front page; Shadow Cabinet briefing; Dennis Richardson as personal friend; China Matters role; Lowy Poll founding intention

"Beijing Besties" Daily Telegraph/Herald Sun front page (21 June 2020): Allan appeared on the front page of the Daily Telegraph and Herald Sun under this headline after briefing the ALP Shadow Cabinet on Australia-China relations. He confirms the briefing happened; denies most of the article's characterisations. Confirms his connection to China Matters as an organisation he is associated with (he is described as "director"). This is the only confirmed tabloid front-page appearance in the corpus. (Ep051)
Briefing the ALP Shadow Cabinet: Allan confirms he "was invited to speak to the ALP Shadow Cabinet, particularly about Australia and China" alongside "a number of other outside experts." He "was happy to agree, as I would be due to any policy body that wants to discuss Australian foreign policy." Confirms continued policy advisory role for both sides of politics during the podcast period. (Ep051)
Dennis Richardson as personal friend: Darren describes Dennis Richardson as Allan's "own personal friend" in addition to "friend of the podcast." Richardson defended Allan publicly on Sky News, saying that "for one group to continually wrap themselves in the flag and who want to imply that those who disagree with them are not loyal Australians is simply crossing a line that's unacceptable." Richardson is described in earlier episodes as a former ASIO DG and DFAT Secretary — the defence came from the most credible possible establishment source. (Ep051)
Penny Wong on Allan: "Labor's foreign affairs spokesperson Penny Wong said that Allan Gyngell was invited because he's one of Australia's preeminent foreign policy experts. He is somebody who is extraordinarily well regarded by both sides of politics." Third-party characterisation from a senior politician, on the record. (Ep051)
Lowy Poll founding intention confirmed: "The poll has now done what I always hoped, which is to give us solid empirical evidence over time of how Australians see the world." Confirms the intellectual rationale behind the poll, consistent with Ep023 where he described the decision to create it. (Ep051)

Style and Method Evidence¶

Confirmed content, rejected framing: Allan's response to the Daily Telegraph story follows a precise structure: acknowledge the one thing that was accurately reported (the Wolverines remark), correct the things that were wrong ("almost all the claims made in the article... were just plain wrong"), explain the actual argument, and then turn to the broader structural problem (McCarthyism, Chinese-Australian suspicion). He does not retreat from anything he said; he corrects the misrepresentation.
Peer calibration as self-portrait: "Tabloid newspaper editors and journalists who don't know me are not among the group of people whose views I care very much about." Allan's sense of self is anchored in a specific peer network — foreign policy practitioners, intelligence community, senior politicians across parties — not in general media or public opinion. This is not arrogance but a precise statement about where he locates legitimate judgement.
"I'll take refuge in too soon to tell": The self-conscious deployment of a formula. He knows he is using a hedge; he names it as a refuge. One of the few moments of self-referential humour about his own analytical habits.
Indonesia as persistent failure: Every year Allan reads the Lowy Poll, every year he notes the Indonesia ignorance figure. "The Australian people don't always get it right" — rare direct criticism of public opinion. He frames it as empirical failure (they think Indonesia is not a democracy when it is) rather than values failure.

Reading / Listening Segment¶

Bob Dylan — Rough and Rowdy Ways (2020 album)¶

Allan's entry. "It's not very often that 79-year-old Nobel Prize winners release albums of new music. So I've been listening to Bob Dylan's rough and rowdy ways. The collection begins with the appropriately named I Contain Multitudes, which of course references Walt Whitman, but really brilliantly encapsulates Dylan himself. And it ends with Murder Most Foul, an extended 17-minute long meditation on the assassination of John F. Kennedy and on American life. Look, the album is much more than a late career novelty. It's a really fine addition to Dylan's body of work." Also recommends: the ABC music show with Andrew Ford, which has a discussion of the album with Australian poet and Dylan fan Robert Adamson.

This is the first music recommendation in the corpus. Dylan at 79 releasing a serious album is the hook; Allan's response is to treat it as serious art — "a really fine addition to Dylan's body of work," not a curiosity. The Walt Whitman reference (I Contain Multitudes) and the 17-minute Kennedy meditation suggest Allan is drawn to the album's literary and historical weight. He knows Robert Adamson as a poet and Dylan fan — another specific name, suggesting he is embedded in literary-intellectual networks beyond foreign policy.

Open Questions¶

What exactly is Allan's role at China Matters — is he on its board, an advisory council, or described as "director" in some other sense? The tabloid story described him as "director of China Matters."
When did Allan's involvement with China Matters begin? China Matters was founded in 2015 — is it connected to his post-ONA DG period?
Dennis Richardson defended Allan on Sky News — when exactly, and is that segment recoverable? Darren says he will link it in show notes.
The Wolverines — who exactly are the parliamentarians who self-identified this way? Allan mentions senators and members; Darren references "a group of parliamentarians who self-identify as taking a hard line on China policy."
The ALP Shadow Cabinet briefing — was this before or after the 19 June Morrison cyber announcement? Was it related to that announcement?