With Jim Middleton & Nick Bisley


Is the world headed for a new cold war? Or a hot one? How close are we to the precipice? What are Australia’s options? Do we have any besides the US alliance and AUKUS?
Jim Middleton is one of Australia’s most recognisable and respected national press gallery veterans. He is deeply established in the political landscape after a 45 year career as senior political journalist, foreign correspondent and TV news presenter.
More recently in his post-journalistic career, Jim worked as a senior adviser to independent South Australian Senator Tim Storer, where he continued to be trusted source of counsel across all shades of the political spectrum. During this stint in Canberra as a political adviser, Jim navigated and negotiated the complexities of the Australian Senate crossbench and legislative schedule.
Across his career as a highly trusted journalist, Jim anchored Sky News, Newsline and The World, while also serving as the ABC’s North America correspondent and then later as the ABC’s chief political correspondent based in Canberra. He covered seven federal elections and multiple eras of government from Hawke/Keating through to the Coalition administrations of recent years.
Nick Bisley is the Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences and Professor of International Relations at La Trobe University. His research and teaching expertise is in Asia’s international relations, great power politics and Australian foreign and defence policy. Nick is currently the President of the Australasian Council of Deans of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities and was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Institute of International Affairs in 2020. He is a member of the advisory board of China Matters, a member of the Council for Security and Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific and served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Australian Journal of International Affairs between 2013 and 2018. He has been a Senior Research Associate of the International Institute of Strategic Studies and a Visiting Fellow at the East-West Center in Washington DC. He regularly contributes to and is quoted in national and international media including The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, CNN and Time Magazine.