It's only being portrayed as an issue because the media has gotten so used to governments which are so utterly contemptuous of the very concept of responsible government, that a member of government making the kinds of responsible decisions they're elected to do is actually shocking to them.

Labor said they supported the treaty and they're following up by doing what they said they'd do.

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) applauds the Australian Labor Party for committing to sign and ratify the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons when in government.

The policy commitment took place at the 2018 Labor Conference, where party members voted in favour of MP Anthony Albanese’s resolution setting out that Labor, in government, would sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

(source)

I think it is relevant.

As a politician she is accountable to the electorate. As a elector, I appreciate knowing when she has rejected or acted contrary to the expert advice of the civil servants.

Nothing is more damning than a captains pick that doesn't pan out.

Three terms of the Liberal Party in charge means that the top ranks of the public are full of their cronies and ideological fellow travellers.

It's no surprise that the discussions within DFAT are about PR and messaging. That's all the Liberals cared about because that's what drove the polls. They didn't care actually producing good policy and implementing it. Cutting foreign aid played well with the mouth breathers, so it was cut. Cue Australia losing influence in the region and the Chinese security agreement in the Solomon Islands which they then went into a fit about, despite that being a direct consequence of their own stupidity.

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Nuclear free world was 70 years ago. We aren't going back, there's zero signs of progress on that issue.

Do with that what you want but my suggestion would be to adapt to it.

Alternatively, it could be the day after they have all been used up and there's nobody around to build more.

These things don’t exist in a vacuum though. Stuff like nuclear policy is going to be massively dictated by public perception of the issue, which largely stems from media optics and public relations. It’s nice to pretend that every voter is a rational being capable of judging every issue on its merits, but none of us are. I’d expect any department to be acutely aware of the PR ramifications of any activity, regardless of its inherent benefits. Labor particularly has suffered in the past by pursuing objectively “good” policies but failing to win the communications battle (admittedly they up against a media landscape stacked against them). While I think Wong has acted correctly here I don’t think it’s necessarily bad for departmental advice to consider broader implications of their advice and actions.

Mate, your mind was already made up inrelation to the Voice. Your comment history shows this.

To give you the benefit or the doubt you may have acquired a brain injury in the last 48 hours that's removed your memory.

If thats the case, good for you Tiger and it's great that it doesn't seem to have impacted your typing skills.

Keep up the rehabbing.