Bob Carr last spoke at the Laperouse Museum in 2008 on the day Barack Obama was elected US President. On that occasion it was his book, My Reading Life. On Tuesday evening over 80 people turned out to listen to him speak about his latest book Diary of a Foreign Minister. Question time included Australia’s relations with Indonesia and China, advice to young people on engaging in the political system, and Obama’s record as president.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Extract Sunday October 7, 2012(page 184)………….Last night we ate kangaroo cooked in coriander, turmeric and cumin while watching Breaking Bad. I tweeted about this and found that British Foreign Secretary William Hague picked it up and tweeted, ‘What Aussie foreign minsters eat.’ Why not, William? It’s lean protein. Paul Monk’s article on China in The Australian on October 1 takes up Luttwak’s view that China is an autistic nation and has been bad at strategy, locked up as it has been in its own Middle Kingdom mystique and totally unused to dealing with other powers as equals. Luttwak had said, “Constructive dialogue with China is important…the problem is that China is tone deaf in strategic matters.” Paul Monk, I think, is one of Australia’s best intellectuals - no, the best; this is another case of him leaping over the various divides and factional camps, the culture wars……….

Extract Saturday September 7, 2013 (475) On the steps of the Konstantinovsky Palace after our G20 gathering, Wang Yi, the Chinese Foreign Minister, had farewelled me, knowing I was about to be replaced and pronounced: “You…are..a…frened.” The same day I receive a farewell text from Jeff Bleich, the US Ambassador in Canberra, thanking me for my support of the President’s position on Syrian chemical weapons. I thought of Kurt Campbell’s observation that when it comes to the America and China relationship, Australia can simply be ‘the most desired girl on the block’. We don’t have to choose…

(Photos: with Barack Obama 6/9/13 St Petersburg G20 courtesy Getty Images; answering questions; presentation of Laperouse cufflinks with Bill Land; engaging the youngest audience member; Carol and Carole; with Doug and Irene Benson; with Glebe booksellers; Ron and Wendy)