If there is one thing that most Australians, from across the political spectrum, can agree upon it is that foreign policy has emerged as one of the key strengths of the Coalition Government lead by Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his team. The energetic and creative leadership of Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and the Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb was demonstrated most recently with the launch of the Coalition's Economic Diplomacy policy at the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney.

The paper derided Julie Bishop as a "complete fool" using a term that defies neat translation but could be construed even more harshly. The personal attack raised eyebrows in the diplomatic corps in Australia and abroad, where Ms Bishop is widely considered to be the most competent Australian foreign affairs minister since Gareth Evans.

The private sector, innovation and the Asia-Pacific region will be the main focus of Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's "new approach" to foreign aid. Ms Bishop announced the policy on Wednesday during a speech at the National Press Club, with the focus on economic partnerships, rather than a "donor-recipient" top-down approach to aid. The changes will come in the form of a new innovation hub at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra.