The secretary of Australia's Foreign Affairs Department says it's "unfortunate" former Foreign Minister Bob Carr has published details of private conversations with world leaders.
But a Senate Estimates committee hearing has been told Mr Carr's diary is not believed to have caused any diplomatic rifts.
There are however rifts between staff within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, with federal budget cuts placing extra pressure on the department.
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Labor Senator Penny Wong has described the Senate Estimates hearing as a "book club", after Liberal politicians spent more than an hour posing questions about the former Foreign Minister's book.
Mr Carr's diary caused a frenzy when published in April and today Senator Sean Edwards has quoted some of the more controversial passages of the book.
"We are sick of steamed fish as a result my weight is down, face gaunt, seven years of weight training melting away. I want turkey. /While in Tokyo I had a meeting with deputy prime minister Katsuya Okada and had been warned that visiting Australia he had received a full bodied assault from Prime Minister Rudd on the question of whaling./ In relation to the Argentinan government he commented that president Kershner was flirtatious./ In regard to the Canadian government didn't' like Stephen Harper."
The Estimates hearing has been quizzed about whether Mr Carr's candid thoughts have jeopardised bilateral ties with a long list of countries, including the United States, Malta, New Zealand and Singapore.
DFAT secretary Peter Varghese has been at pains to avoid passing judgement on the book, but does admit some of the revelations are unfortunate.
"I share the Foreign Minister's view that there is an expectation that conversations that are held in private will not be revealed and to the extent that the book goes contrary to that, I think that is unfortunate."
Mr Varghese says he formally asked Mr Carr to provide a draft of the book before it was published, but he never got a response.
Attorney General George Brandis says the book has not sparked any diplomatic incident he's aware of, but it's inappropriate nonetheless.
"The diaries reveal the sort of person he is. The diaries are in my view, in some respects indiscrete, and so therefore for a foreign minister to publish these matters, embarrasing and inappropriate."
Meanwhile there is unease and uncertainty over other matters within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
The Abbott government merged DFAT and AusAID when it came to power last year, causing the department to launch a redundancy program.
The Senate estimates committee has been told more than 150 people have left voluntarily so far and a further 540 staff have applied for a redundancy.
Of the staff who came across from AusAID 20 per cent are asking to go.
In the past financial year, 65 overseas AusAID positions have been slashed, many from Africa.
Operations in Africa are set to take a further hit, feeling the brunt of the federal budget's 7.6-billion-dollars in foreign aid cuts over four years.
Attorney General George Brandis says the government has its priorities right.
"What this does reflect is a greater focus on the region. So we have economies, particularly in Africa and we have an expansion, albiet slight in this year, in the region. Now the government makes no apology at all for focussing our diplomacy on the region and if that requires the reallocation of the concentration of staff from other regions then so be it."
A further 50 positions are expected to be cut across the entire department in the next year financial year, following the announcement of $425-million cuts over four years.
Department Secretary Peter Varghese says the total cuts equate to 12 per cent of staff and will be a significant reduction to manage.
Cost-cutting is also set to impact foreign embassies, with the department looking to save on wages by employing more locals in embassies, where appropriate.
Sharing embassy office space is another cost-saving measure being explored, with Mr Varghese saying he's reasonably open minded about which countries Australia could share with.
Earlier this year Australia relocated its Baghdad embassy to an office within the British embassy.
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