Dear Readers,
Hi everyone, I’m Eleanor Shiori Hughes, and I’m a Non-Resident Fellow with econVue and the host of the Hughes News podcast. For Episode 5, I’m thrilled to have my friend Latika Bourke on the show. Like me, Latika is a fellow Substacker and has been, well before this platform experienced a deluge of new users and writers in recent months. She also hosts a podcast: Latika Takes, which you can find on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Youtube. We first met through a fellowship that we were both a part of through the Australian Institute of International Affairs and The Japan Foundation in 2023 and 2024.
About My Featured Guest
❝ We have not still had a one-on-one between our prime minister and Donald Trump, and that’s starting to now look concerning. Before the election, it looked liked ‘ok that’s fine, we get to do things on our own terms.’ Now that the Americans have not only imposed tariffs on [Australia] unfairly, unncessarily, and ridiciously some might say, but are now also triggering this review on AUKUS, there is plenty of reason for Anthony Albanese to need to get into Trump’s face and have a personal relationship with him, because we know that is the currency with which Donald Trump conducts international relations.
-Latika Bourke’s assessment on why it is problematic that Albanese has not had any face-time with Trump yet
Latika is the Writer-at-Large for The Nightly, an Australian-based media outlet, where she reports on foreign policy, geopolitics, and national security issues. Earlier this year, she became an Expert Associate at the Australian National University’s National Security College. Based in London, Latika regularly makes media appearances and moderates panels and discussions (she just emceed a conversation featuring Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky at the GLOBSEC Bratislava Forum!). She spent eight years in the Canberra press gallery and previously worked for The Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), and 2UE Radio.
This podcast was recorded on Sunday, June 22, 2025 (US EST and BST).
Here is a list of some of the topics that we talked about:
How Latika found her calling to become a journalist
How the two of us first crossed paths through a fellowship on disaster resilience that took us to Japan and a few other countries
Latika’s experiences reporting on Australia’s recent federal election, trailing both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (Albo) and now-former Opposition Leader Petter Dutton for over a month
The variables that shaped the outcome of the election with Albo and the Labor Party emerging as the victors
The discourse in Australia regarding AUKUS, upping its defense spending, tariffs, and Australian perceptions of the U.S. under Trump
The pressure points that are slowly but surely unveiling divergences between Canberra and Washington, particularly regarding the Middle East
You can find the audio version of our podcast recording below:
Closing Thoughts
❝ There are growing fissures in the U.S.-Australia alliance—especially over AUKUS and how Australia should handle Trump.
— Eleanor Shiori Hughes, on shifting strategic alignments
The global security environment is certainly finding itself in a more precarious - and a more peculiar - situation, and its fluid nature keeps many of us guessing day by day. I oftentimes find myself waking up not knowing what the media cycle will hold for us consumers of the news, and I’m sure that I’m not alone in feeling this way. This is why the work that journalists like Latika does is invaluable. She has a knack for not only churning articles and podcast episodes left and right, but she also has a keen ability to articulate geopolitics and national security in a way that is not too esoteric and is easily digestable for readers.
On a more personal note, it warms my heart to see her thriving in her profession to the extent that she is, and I’m even more grateful to have her as a friend. Below is a photo of the two of us at Shibuya Crossing - one of the busiest intersections of the world in Tokyo. My hope is that the two of us can travel again together sometime soon and share more memorable adventures. Who knows: perhaps we’ll have a Mario Kart rematch? 💫
Best wishes to you all,
💬 Eleanor
Eleanor Shiori Hughes
March 11, 2020
Eleanor Shiori Hughes is a Non-Resident Fellow at econVue. She frequently writes about geopolitics in Asia; Japan - Taiwan relations; Australia; the Pacific Islands; business and geopolitics; and workforce development issues for critical technologies.
📍Arlington, VA
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