Four of the most powerful democracies in the Indo-Pacific region just met to discuss an increasingly assertive Beijing. "The Quadrilateral in some senses is taking up the slack that's left from ASEAN meetings where there is a failure to really be able to agree or speak openly about some of the more controversial issues that China does not want to …
Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Defence Minister Linda Reynolds will fly to Washington for annual talks with their US counterparts next week, forcing both frontbenchers into quarantine on their return to Australia. Key points: The ABC has been told the decision to travel was "not taken lightly" by the ministers The US ambassador said it would be "one of the …