This week in Australian foreign affairs: Morrison acknowledges Samoa’s new Government, Payne attends the Pacific Islands Forum Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, Ley welcomes the World Heritage Committee’s rejection of the proposed UNESCO “In Danger” listing for the Great Barrier Reef, and more.

Social media firms, as private actors, are not subject to the First Amendment. The extraordinary power of private companies to censor political speech, and the danger that government officials will enlist private firms to censor political opponents are serious social concerns.

A litmus test is at hand of just how far domestic politics and vague national security “threats” now drive Australian government decision-making towards China. The test involves the Chinese company, Landbridge, and its lease to operate the Port of Darwin.

In recent years, China has fortified the South and East China Seas, taken away freedoms in Hong Kong, oppressed Uyghurs and other minorities, and extended Xi Jinping’s leadership term from a decade to life. All these moves signal a very different China.

President Jovenel Moise of Haiti was assassinated on 7 July. It was the most recent in a series of crises that have shaken Haiti since the fall of the Duvalier autocracy in 1986.

Australia’s level of influence in the Pacific has declined as the result of a misguided and confused foreign policy. With Sino-Australian relations worsening day-by-day, Australia needs its Pacific mates more than ever.

The history of Timor-Leste is plagued by foreign interests and occupation. The most recent peacebuilding process has failed to adhere to its own represented principles of local participation, capacity building, and local ownership.

Incarceration rates for Indigenous people are disproportionately high. Through a deeper understanding of modern-day colonialism and conscientious investment in Indigenous communities, this can be reversed.

With the situation in Afghanistan fast unravelling, China will be keen to become the main external player to replace the Americans. But it won’t be plain sailing for Beijing.

Also discussed in this episode: Exchange hack and Pegasus; APEC; and a return to Afghanistan?