Never had a diplomat arrived in Australia with such star power or as compelling a narrative as Caroline Kennedy. Camelot had come to Canberra, demonstrating the high importance US President Joe Biden placed on the relationship with Australia.

“President Biden is sending someone from Democratic Party royalty to represent him in Australia,” former Australian ambassador to Washington Joe Hockey enthused when Kennedy was appointed in December 2021. The fact she would enjoy a “direct line to the president”, Hockey said, would help take the United States-Australia alliance to new heights.

Caroline Kennedy at the US embassy in Canberra in August 2023.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

When Kennedy, the only remaining child of slain president John F. Kennedy, touched down at Sydney airport in July 2022 it was a major news event. She made a strong first impression, chiding a male reporter for speaking over a female journalist at a brief press conference. Two-and-a-half years later, Biden is departing the White House and Kennedy’s time as US ambassador to Australia is already over. Within the foreign policy community the reviews of Kennedy’s tenure are decidedly mixed.

Her defenders say her time in Australia was a soft-power success, one that presented an appealing image of America after the chaos of Donald Trump’s first term. “She projected an interested, engaged and excited face of American diplomacy in Australia,” says Paul Myler, who served as Australia’s deputy ambassador in Washington under Kevin Rudd, Arthur Sinodinos and Joe Hockey.

Her detractors argue that Kennedy’s ambassadorship lacked depth and failed to capitalise on the goodwill Australians felt towards her. Many asked not to be named to speak frankly about their views. “Pretty uneventful,” is how one former senior diplomat sums up Kennedy’s time in Australia. In a scathing verdict, a prominent member of the foreign policy community says: “She didn’t live up to the hype and expectation. I can’t name one issue she really advanced.”

Allan Behm, a former diplomat who spent........

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