It has long been fashionable, as the recent choice of George Brandis as Australia's next High Commissioner to the United Kingdom has highlighted, to condemn the appointment of former politicians to senior diplomatic roles.
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Such attacks are usually the preserve of the political party in opposition, often involve ad hominem attacks on the appointee, and argue a "professional" diplomat, as opposed to a professional politician, should have got the gig.
Needless to say, as soon as the party doing the criticising gets into power it immediately makes similar appointments of its own.
While it is hard to say whether or not a career diplomat is better equipped to handle our special relationships with countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States and even the Holy See, experience has shown some have gone on to perform very well.
Kim Beazley, appointed as Australia's ambassador to the US in 2009 after being toppled as Opposition Leader by Kevin Rudd in 2006, was so well respected Tony Abbott extended his term twice after the change of government in 2013.
Whether or not Joe Hockey, whose failure to launch as the Abbott Government's first treasurer saw him dispatched to take Mr Beazley's place, will do as well remains to be seen.
Mr Brandis, meantime, has reasonable sized shoes to fill given the latest revelations about his predecessor, Alexander Downer's, role in the investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian Government.
Mr Downer, whose family lineage and upbringing made him a perfect fit for the court of St James, was apparently one of the first people outside of the Trump camp to be aware of the interest the Russians were taking in the outcome of the 2016 Presidential election.
He had met George Papadopoulos, a foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign who later admitted to lying to the FBI about Russian links, at a London bar where the wine flowed freely.
While Mr Downer has, appropriately diplomatically, kept mum about the specifics of the night's conversation, it seems fair to infer a relaxed and chatty Mr Papadopoulos dropped a hint the Trump camp was getting some juicy scuttlebutt on Hillary Clinton and her campaign from Russia.
When it became apparent, from the leaking of damaging Clinton campaign office emails over the next month or so, there may be some truth in this, Mr Downer appears to have arranged for the American authorities to be alerted.
While he has been criticised for that delay, Mr Downer's reluctance to cry wolf on the basis of what initially amounted to hearsay repeated in a tap room conversation can be construed as both appropriate and defensible.
To have gone rushing to the Americans at a time when there was neither smoke nor fire could have been foolhardy and potentially damaging.
He seems to have handled a delicate situation with diplomacy and finesse. Let's just hope Mr Brandis can keep up the good work.
