Home desk jockeys replace diplomats - The Australian

THE number of diplomats posted overseas has plunged by one-third over the past two decades, as successive federal governments have tightened the screws on them while presiding over a massive expansion to the bureaucracy.

Despite the burgeoning of Australia's consular, trade and security needs since the late 1980s, both Labor and Coalition administrations have taken the cheaper option, increasingly relying on desk jockeys in Canberra to pursue the nation's interests.