The Australia-Korea Foundation’s next funding round will begin in February for the 2011―2012 financial year. The Foundation explained that project proposals from individuals or organizations must demonstrate the ability to achieve the AKF’s goals in line with its Strategic Plan.

Moviegoers in Jakarta will be treated to a taste of Australian cinema at the city’s first film festival of 2011, kicking off next week. Building on the success of the Australian Indigenous Cultural Festival in 2009, the Australian embassy will host “Australia on Screen 2011” at the Blitzmegaplex theater in Jakarta’s Grand Indonesia mall.

The Australian Embassy is expected to have several intern positions available in the Agriculture, Corporate, Education, Defense and Public Diplomacy Sections.

But some had grander hopes for the Expo – namely, that it would ‘showcase China’s soft power’... As it happened, the events that swirled around the Expo’s closing weeks showcased something quite else: Why China doesn’t have much soft power and why the West, broadly defined, still has it in spades.

The decision is a blow for ABC managing director Mark Scott, who lobbied heavily for the contract to be retained by the broadcaster. It will allow Australian News Channel's Sky News... to bid for the right to broadcast news and entertainment services into the Asia-Pacific region.

In leading foreign ministries the digital age is producing dramatic change. Every day a single American diplomat communicates with more than a quarter of a million Indonesians using Facebook. Australia's diplomatic service, by contrast, doesn't even use social media in Indonesia.

The United Kingdom has named career diplomat Paul Madden as British High Commissioner to Australia. He succeeds Baroness Valerie Amos who returned to the UK earlier this year to take up the position of United Nations chief of Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Control.