Thread. Some useful nuggets here in this interview. Until recently Maude was at the heart of @dfat and Australia’s foreign policy establishment. So it’s worth taking a close look at what he says 1/
@dfat First, Maude is quite blunt on China. He says CCP ideology is fundamentally hostile to the west (and therefore Australia) 2/ 
@dfat Sure, this is a statement of the obvious. But given @MarisePayne and senior diplomats (probably for good reason) always use euphemisms about the CCP having “different values” or a “different system” it's useful/refreshing to have the mask ripped off by someone of his heft 3/
@dfat @MarisePayne Maude also says the CCP’s authoritarianism is what drives its rule-breaking. In other words, if China was not governed by a Leninist institution it likely would not behave in this way 4/
@dfat @MarisePayne All this makes Maude sound like a China hawk. But he sounds ambivalent about the Australian Government’s decision to block Huawei from the 5G network, and (perhaps?) sceptical about intelligence agency warnings that a full ban was the only option 5/
@dfat @MarisePayne Finally, Maude says something that people in @dfat have been complaining about for years in private: the Department is underfunded and badly needs an infusion of cash 6/
@dfat @MarisePayne Maude says governments struggle to understand the value of long-term diplomacy. And he says @dfat and diplomats also bear some responsibility: they’ve failed to convince decision makers to invest in them during an era of austerity
@dfat @MarisePayne There were - of course - plenty of other interesting reflections in this interview, which is well worth listening to. But these are the ones that jumped out at me!
NOTE for those following this thread : I misinterpreted this comment. Maude has been in touch to (gently) correct me. He says he supported the 5G decision and wasn’t referring to it specifically here. He was just making a broader point about the need for expert technical advice
