What the foreign minister didnt say is most alarming [Video]

When Foreign Minister Penny Wong recently canvassed the possibility of Australia recognising Palestinian statehood, it predictably provoked a vigorous public debate. So great was the ensuing furore that virtually nothing else Wong said, in a wide-ranging address to the National Security College’s Securing Our Future conference, was picked up by the media.

But there was much more to Wong’s speech than what she had to say about the Middle East. She addressed the many foreign policy challenges Australia faces. There is no arena in which the subtleties of emphasis – or the lack of emphasis – is more revealing than in diplomacy.

Wong gave us a glimpse of where her priorities lie, not from her words alone, but from the issues on which she chose to concentrate – and those she failed to emphasise.

One particular global challenge notable …