Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s keynote speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore this past weekend was billed in advance as “his most important foreign policy speech of the year”, so expectations were high. As Mr Albanese himself keeps saying, Australia faces “the most challenging strategic circumstances since the Second World War”.

It was hoped that the leader of a country that prides itself on plain speaking would take advantage of this prestigious and high-profile opportunity to give a frank and insightful account of the grave dangers facing Asia, and a clear statement of his government’s steps to address them.