Blind Spot Southeast Asia and Australia’s Future; Quarterly Essay 101 by Michael Wesley

Southeast Asia has never been more important to Australia – and Australia has never been more alienated from Southeast Asia and with so little idea of what to do about it.

For Australia, the region holds the key to our security and prosperity. Yet as a society we have never fully grasped its importance. Our gaze has vaulted over Southeast Asia towards Northeast Asia’s industrial giants, and now towards a rising India. Yet Southeast Asia is where the future world order will be decided – the place where China’s bid for regional power will succeed or fail.

This illuminating, original essay reveals Australia’s blind spot. What do we need to know about Southeast Asia? What has our foreign policy elite’s subservience to the United States stopped us from seeing and doing? What do our neighbours have to tell us, if only we could hear? This is an essay about values, imagination and a new way of seeing ourselves.

About the Author: Michael Wesley’s books include There Goes the Neighbourhood- Australia and the Rise of Asia and Mind of the Nation- Universities in Australian Life. He is Professor of Politics and Deputy Vice Chancellor (Global, Culture and Engagement) at the University of Melbourne and was formerly head of the Lowy Institute and dean of ANU’s College of Asia and the Pacific.

16 Mar 2026
 

On Australia and Asia: Quarterly Essay 101 by Michael Wesley ISBN 9781760645793