Paul abandoned the study of Law forty years ago, to immerse himself in open-ended inquiry about the roots of Western civilization. He took a BA in European History from the University of Melbourne with First Class Honours. His thesis was on the general strike and student rebellion in France, in May 1968. He then undertook a PhD in International Relations at the Australian National University. His dissertation was a study of American counter-insurgency in Southeast Asia and Central America throughout the Cold War. He next joined the Defence Intelligence Organization, where he was assigned to work on East Asia and rose to become first Japan and Koreas Desk Officer and then head of China analysis.
Since leaving government service twenty years ago, he has lectured at several leading Australian universities, formed a consulting company (with the philosopher and cognitive scientist Tim Van Gelder), written seven books and run training seminars for intelligence agencies here and abroad, law firms, bankers, public utilities, audit agencies, military services and others. His writings have appeared in serious newspapers and magazines and won him a reputation as an essayist and opinion maker of exceptionally wide range and depth. He is a poet as well as an analytical thinker. The two qualities are blended in his 2016 book Credo and Twelve Poems; A Cosmological Manifesto. He is currently at work on a biography and a historical novel.