Caroline Kennedy has fronted the Senate as she wends her way through the confirmation process that all United States ambassadors have to navigate before getting on a plane.
The former US ambassador to Japan — and daughter of former US president John F Kennedy — appears set to become a high-profile appointment to the ambassador to Australia role.
Most observers predict she will be waved relatively quickly through the Senate confirmation process, allowing her to fly to Canberra within the next few months.
But the hearings have given foreign policy watchers and officials their first chance to see her speak at length about what her top priorities would be as ambassador and give her views on the mounting list of geopolitical challenges both the US and Australia are grappling with.
Here's what she said on some of the big issues, ranging from China and AUKUS, to climate change and brewing strategic competition in the Pacific.
China
Unsurprisingly, US senators at the hearing were keen to press Ms Kennedy on her attitude to China, and to the fraught ties between Canberra and Beijing.
Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat, pointed to China's trade strikes on Australia, as well as criticism state media has heaped on the Australian government, including a Global Times piece describing Australia as "chewing gum stuck on the soul of China's shoes".
Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney struck a similar tone, asking Ms Kennedy if she agreed China was acting in "a malevolent and predatory way that presents a real threat to our interests here and around the world".
Ms Kennedy used much more measured language in her answers. But she praised Australia's response to China's trade punishments, saying the US could "learn a lot from their response".
"They've stood firm and I think they've managed to come together with a bipartisan foreign policy, and I think a greater and deeper partnership with us in the security and diplomatic areas — as well as across the board — will serve their country and our country well," she said.
In fact, Ms Kennedy came back to that theme of bipartisanship and unity more than once in the hearing, saying later that the Australian people had "come together in understanding the challenges posed by China".
She gestured towards the relatively modest impact of China's trade strikes, saying Australia was "fortunate" that it had rich endowments of resources (Beijing has continued to buy Australian iron ore at sky-high prices because it still needs it) and that most of the goods blocked had been "able to find markets" elsewhere.
She also vowed to back Canberra in its stand-off with China, saying "pushing back on China's economic coercion is something that United States is going to have to support our allies [on]".
But she did not offer any specific details about what form that "push back" would take, or lay out what concrete steps the Biden administration might be willing to take to deter China.
AUKUS
The signature defence technology agreement between the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia will undoubtably eat up a huge amount of Ms Kennedy's time after she lands in Canberra.
Australia's push to develop nuclear-powered submarines will strain every sinew the federal bureaucracy has as the federal government develops the regulatory framework, infrastructure, workforce and technical expertise needed to build, run and maintain them.
Ms Kennedy did not dwell on the agreement at length during the hearing, but she hailed AUKUS as a landmark pact of real consequence.
She was also keen to stress that AUKUS was much more than just a nuclear submarines agreement. She highlighted the dizzying array of working groups that had sprung up to help all three countries coordinate on a wide range of sophisticated military technologies.
"I think that there is a lot of deterrence that it will deliver well before the submarines are in operation," she told the hearing.
Climate change
Climate change is a point of tension between the federal government and the Biden administration, which has made it clear it wants Australia to take more ambitious steps to cut carbon emissions by the end of this decade.
Veteran Democratic senator Bob Menendez used his time on the floor to highlight the catastrophic impact of climate fuelled disasters in Australia, including the Black Summer bushfires and the floods which have ravaged New South Wales and Queensland this year.
He told Ms Kennedy there were "great lessons" from these disasters for the US, and asked her if she would "get Australia to think about the climate responsibilities they have" in both "their own interests as well as the global interest".
Ms Kennedy's response was quite cautious. She highlighted that US firefighters travelled to Australia to help fight fires in 2019 and agreed it was important to move as quickly as possible to clean energy sources, but she did not criticise Australia's current targets or weigh in on the domestic political debate on the cusp of the federal election.
"The more we can learn about and learn how to combat [climate change] and move towards a clean energy transition and reduce the impact of climate change — the faster we can do that, if confirmed, I'd be eager to work on that," she told the hearing.
Solomon Islands
The security pact between China and Solomon Islands has stirred anxiety in both Canberra and Washington, which fear the deal might be a first step towards a Chinese military presence on the Pacific Island nation off Australia's east coast.
Solomon Islands only diplomatically recognised China in 2019, but it has already started a police cooperation program with Beijing, and it seems determined to press ahead with the agreement despite warnings from Australian intelligence chiefs.
Even before the news of the pact broke, the United States was moving to re-establish a diplomatic presence in Solomon Islands by opening an embassy in Honiara.
Ms Kennedy only fielded one question on the defence pact. Republican senator Bill Hagerty called it deeply concerning and asked Ms Kennedy what the US "posture" towards it should be.
Ms Kennedy made it clear she was glad the US was getting its diplomats back on the ground in Honiara, saying "the fact we are reopening our embassy in Solomon Islands can't come soon enough".
But she kept her answers broad, saying she needed to "fully read in" on exactly what was happening with the security pact.
"If confirmed, I would work very hard with Australia [on this]," she said.
"Australia has a very active embassy in every Pacific Island nation, and it's been a historic area of US engagement as well."
