Grand Ambition

Written with never-before-seen documents from Paul Keating’s archive and drawing on long conversations and interviews with him over many years, this book explores the ambitions for Australia and its place in the world that guided Keating: arguably the last Prime Minister with a compelling long-term vision for the country.

As Australia stands on the edge of the greatest reappraisal of its strategic circumstances, what is the relevance of Paul Keating’s vision for Australia in the world today?

At the moment of his political defeat in 1996, Paul Keating stood defiant, still arguing for a vision of Australia that reached far beyond the limits of electoral politics. Three decades on, this book revisits that vision: bold, contested and somewhat unravelled by subsequent Coalition governments.

Drawing on newly revealed documents and extensive interviews, it traces how Keating sought to reshape Australia’s foreign policy at the end of the Cold War: anchoring the country in Asia, embedding China within a regional order, deepening ties with Indonesia and challenging long-held assumptions about dependence on great powers. For Keating, economic reform, national identity and international strategy were inseparable: part of a single, sweeping project to remake Australia.

Ambitious and provocative, this is both a portrait of a singular political mind and a reappraisal of a pivotal era. It argues that the questions Keating grappled with – about independence, security and identity – remain unresolved, and more urgent than ever in a world defined by rising tensions between the United States, China and the rest of the world.

Including exclusive photographs from Paul Keating's private collection.

About the Author

James Curran is Professor of Modern History at the University of Sydney specialising in political and foreign relations history. He is also a foreign affairs columnist at the Australian Financial Review where he was International Editor from 2023–2025. In 2025, Curran delivered one of the ABC’s Boyer Lectures on Australia’s current strategic dilemma.

Prior to joining Sydney University, James served in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Department of Defence and at the Office of National Assessments. In 2013, he was Chair of Australian History at University College Dublin and in 2010 was awarded a Fulbright Scholar at Georgetown University. Curran is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of International Affairs.