First some unfinished business from the Submarine Institute of Australia conference. The Chief of Navy asks why aren’t there more positive stories about Collins submarines? The reason is quite simple: because you won’t tell us anything. This goes for the other services as well – you cannot complain about lack of coverage if you deliberately suppress the release of information. That’s something that Defence Minister Richard Marles knows well. It’s the definition of hypocrisy: say you are in favour of communicating with the Australian public and then obstruct journalists from doing their job. Some words about the new Trump administration starting to take shape and the surprisingly large amount of publicity about our current Ambassador – and former Labor PM – Kevin Rudd. Deciding who the Australian Ambassador should be is a decision for us – not anyone else. As for the eternal bonds of friendship between the US and Australia – when Trump was last President he didn’t even bother appointing an Ambassador here until the end of his term. That’s a clear indication of the importance Trump attaches to Australia. None.