Australia has been a key proponent of 'active middle power' diplomacy for many decades, often in concert with Canada, New Zealand and South Korea. Australia now often terms itself a 'pivotal power' or 'top 20' power. 1 Australia has often claimed that it wishes to fulfil the roles of 'great power manager', such as dealing with close ally the US to soften its positions, 'emerging power advocate' in advocating trade ally China to join the liberal order, or issue-based 'coalition-builder'.2 Australia has been an active member and proponent of the MIKTA grouping in this context, and invested in a successful chairing year for MIKTA in 2016. Australia sees MIKTA as a governance innovation that could lead to other kinds of innovative thinking and provide new regional perspectives on global problems.