Call it "new" or "independent" or even "accidental", but turmoil-2020 means Australia’s foreign policy is being cast in a new light. From hedging on America’s future to China ratcheting up tensions, the rise of a non-US-China grouping in the region, and the shape of a post-lockdown recovery, it’s a different ball game.

“What we are seeing is a freeze-frame moment,” says veteran foreign policy strategist Allan Gyngell. The result is not an independent Australian foreign policy, but a “new” policy, according to the Lowy Institute’s Richard McGregor.