Speech

at the Royal United Services Institute of Australia

Canberra, 21 August 2002

Australia's Foreign Policy & International Relations

Introduction

Ladies and Gentlemen

I trust you all enjoyed your dinner in the mess here tonight.  I certainly did.

And it is always a pleasure to return to the hospitality and good company offered at the Australian Defence College.

It is also a great pleasure also to be here to address tonight's meeting of the Royal United Services Institute.

My thanks are due to Air Vice Marshall David Rogers for his kind words of introduction.

And I would like to acknowledge the presence this evening of Air Vice Marshall David Evans, the National President of the Institute.

As we all know, the RUSI is about contributing to – and improving - public debate and discourse about national security and defence issues.

Given our current circumstances – especially after the tragic and terrible events of September 11 last year – there is an ever greater need for informed and balanced consideration of our security environment.

Of course, national security is not just something to be provided for – and safeguarded by – our military forces, important as they are.

I see national security as a combination of national efforts – in our military strength and posture, in our diplomatic relations and foreign policy initiatives, in our trade and investment abroad, and in our cultural and other people-to-people links across the globe.

That same combination, of course, cuts two ways.

In a highly globalised and increasingly integrated world, we now see international challenges that cut across our domestic economic and social policies, as much as they do the traditional foreign, defence and trade policy arena.

So more than ever, Australia's foreign and trade policies are a vital ingredient in forging our nation's future.

Our economic prosperity … our border security … and our ability to help shape a more stable environment … all rely on Australia exercising a strong, independent, responsive and pragmatic foreign policy.

We have to respect and build on our past allegiances and relationships…we have to work with our friends of the past…large and small, powerful and needy….but we also have to serve our own national interests, which means forging new relationships and developing coalitions of mutual interest.

I make no apology for the simple fact that serving our own national interest is our main aim…our driving force.

That sounds like an obvious point….but it is one that is often overlooked.

And I am determined it will remain our cornerstone as we complete a new Foreign Affairs White Paper, appropriately entitled “Advancing the national interest.”

Achievements

Our strengths begin at home – primarily through a strong economy – and the ability to project from that base in our trade and investment performance abroad.

Our domestic economy has grown at an average of 3.8%, and is currently one of the strongest in the world.

Interest rates, for example, are still at their lowest level in 30 years.

Unemployment is trending to around 6 percent, the lowest since the mid 1980s.

That growth has been assisted by a 54% jump in the value of Australia's total exports.

Our export success has been broadly-based, with big increases to the Middle East and the United States, and very respectable growth in exports to East Asia.

One in five Australian jobs depend on exports: all Australians have a vested interest in our international economic relations.

We have sought to ensure that overseas markets remain open to our goods and services.

The mandate for the new round of multilateral trade negotiations serves our interests.

The WTO dispute settlement system has delivered wins for our farmers on beef and lamb.

We are on paths to Free Trade Agreements with Singapore and Thailand and the United States.

And we are discussing economic agreements with China and Japan, and pursuing closer trade and investment links with ASEAN through the AFTA-CER Closer Economic Partnership.

On the security front, we have established formal political-military dialogues with Japan, Korea, China and India, and we are forging a new trilateral security dialogue with Japan and the United States.

We have consolidated our security alliance with the United States and, following September 11, invoked ANZUS for the first time.

We have used our aid program to encourage good governance …promoting democracy, respect for the individual and equality before the law.

Australian spending on governance programs in the Asia Pacific region have more than doubled since 1998 to $291 mn in 2001.

Nowhere have Australian values been better demonstrated than through our contributions to peace, stability and democracy in the region – in East Timor, in Fiji, in the Solomon Islands, and in Bougainville.

Globally, and regionally, we are a full participant in the war against terrorism.

We are committed to using all the resources at our disposal - military, intelligence, law enforcement, and customs – to address this most insidious threat to security.

Change

We must remain focused on a rapidly changing world, and the impact of those changes on our interests.

And in recent times change has been simply enormous.

No-one could have predicted six years ago the extent of change in our foreign and trade policy environment…the East Asian financial crisis … the aftermath of continued economic and political uncertainty … the historic transition to democracy and decentralised rule in Indonesia … East Timorese independence … governance issues in the South Pacific … the events of September 11 …

Conflict in the Middle East continues to have an impact beyond its borders.  And the tensions between Pakistan and India – though lessened somewhat in recent weeks – still pose a distinct threat of nuclear exchange, with horrifying and devastating consequences.

Developments in both regions will have a profound impact upon regional and global security.

We cannot ignore the rapid advances in science and technology, both in their commercial and  military applications.

We are still at the early stages of a revolution in military affairs, in information technology, in biotechnology, material science and nano-technology.

Of course, no analysis of the changing world can ignore the pre-eminence of the United States.

In 1980 the US accounted for 25 percent of world GDP:  today, the figure is 34 percent.

US military expenditure is nearly US$400 bn, over six times that of Russia, and nearly ten times that of China.

US expenditure on research and development (US$265 bn in 2000) is larger than Japan, Germany, the UK and France combined.

Challenges

The challenges we face serve to highlight the kinds of issues governments will need to address in developing policies for Australia's future.

Global security

Clearly the war against terrorism represents a pivotal challenge.  Our effort must be sustained, and mature.  We must guard against this war being portrayed as something that it fundamentally and patently is not – a confrontation between Christianity and Islam - a clash of civilisations.

Closely related to the threat of terrorism is the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction – chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear – as well as missile proliferation.

This trend is no longer restricted just to states – weapons of mass destruction are now falling into the hands of private actors.

The United Nations is an important arena for dealing with such problems.

The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, in which we played such an important part, is one such example.

But the multilateral system is not a cure all - we have to respond imaginatively and dynamically to new proposals and structures for containing threats from weapons of mass destruction, given the changed strategic and security circumstances we find ourselves in.

Regional security

There are also a number of security challenges specific to our region.

The world's six largest armies belong to Asia-Pacific nations – China, the United States, Russia, India, and the two Koreas.

After the Middle East, the world's three most volatile flashpoints - the Taiwan Strait, the Korean Peninsula and Kashmir – are in the Asia-Pacific.

We need to play our part, together with our friends and allies, in reducing tensions in the region.

Our alliance with the United States – together with the web of US alliances in the region – is an important strand in underpinning regional prosperity and security.

Part of our effort lies in developing further our relations in Asia.

An integrated and prosperous region, trading and investing amongst itself and with the rest of the world, is the basis for a stable and peaceful region.

Our effort should be devoted not just to trade and investment, but also to other links.  The nub of our strategy should be to sustain the notion of exchange – in goods and services, in investment, in people, and in ideas – amongst the countries of the region.

Let me mention in this respect the ramifications of the successful Australian bid to supply LNG to China.

The contract is not just significant in economic and commercial terms – for our exports, employment and infrastructure development.

It is also of enormous strategic importance for both Australia and China, and for our place as a reliable, important mainstay in the region.

It contributes – directly and forcefully – to regional security because it strengthens the commitment of both Australia and China to the stability and security of energy supply in the region.

Trade and investment

A third challenge before us is to help restore momentum in global trade and investment liberalisation – especially in markets for Australian agriculture.

Because without progress in agriculture, there will be no outcome in the new round of multilateral trade negotiations.

It is disturbing indeed that high income countries, including those in the EU, spend nearly $1.8 billion per day on agricultural support and protection – seven times more than development assistance budgets, and twice the value of agricultural exports from all developing countries.

We must protect and enhance our interests in the Doha Round of global trade negotiations.

We have to build on the economic agreements we are developing.

And we have to match our strong security relations with the United States with a much better economic relationship.

Too often, American decision-makers harm our trade.  The recent farm bill is a classic example.

That is why we are seeking to put the economic relationship on a more strategic footing through our proposal for a Free Trade Agreement.

South Pacific

A fourth challenge for Australia is the South Pacific – a region with problems we cannot afford to under-estimate.

The costs of failure in some South Pacific island states will be borne largely by Australia.

It is fundamentally in our interests to work with the people of the South Pacific to ensure that their countries are viable, and sustainable.

Our development assistance program, with its emphasis on governance and reducing poverty in the region, will continue to play an important role.

European Union

A fifth challenge for Australia is to adjust to – and exploit - the emerging significance of the European Union.

Europe has been transformed into a huge, wealthy, single market, with a common currency.

European nations speak with a largely united voice on issues such as agriculture, trade, and the environment.

And now we are seeing an emerging single voice on foreign, defence and security policy.

We need to work hard on building our links not only with the individual member states, but also with European institutions.

In other words, we need to see Europe through a new prism, not just through the United Kingdom or other traditional bilateral relationships such as France and Germany.

Trans-national threats

A further challenge – perhaps most vexed and difficult of all - is the continuing emergence of issues such as people smuggling, money laundering, ethnic conflict, drug smuggling, access to clean water, environmental problems, the security of reliable energy sources, and diseases such as HIV/AIDS.

By their very nature, these problems are trans-national – they exist despite national boundaries – and they pose new threats to sovereignty and security.

Terrorism, of course, is the most striking example.

But the threats posed by other trans-national issues are very real.

These problems demand effective, sometimes new, solutions.

Australia is, for example, already playing a lead role, having facilitated regional conferences on HIV/AIDs and people smuggling, in an effort to forge regional consensus and solutions.

Conclusion

Australia is well placed to meet the challenges of rapid and profound change.

We have enormous assets – tangible and otherwise – in our physical and intellectual resources, our political institutions, our defence capabilities, our dynamic, strong economy and our innovative and tolerant society.

We are well placed in terms of our relationships – our links to the region make us a crucial ally for the United States….and our links with the US help to bolster the significance of our relationships in the region.

It is up to us to ensure our future.  No one else will do it for us.

The Government – drawing on the contributions of institutions such as the RUSI – will act unashamedly in the national interest, to protect our borders and maintain our economic prosperity.

That is our responsibility to the Australian people.

Thank you.

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