Speeches
Canberra, 29 May 2003
Speech by at the launch of
Facing North: A Century of Australian Engagement with Asia Volume 2:1970s to 2000
Thank you, Dr Calvert, for your kind words of introduction.
Excellencies Distinguished guests Ladies and gentlemen.
Today it is my great pleasure to launch Facing North: A Century of Australian Engagement with Asia Volume 2: 1970s to 2000.
Facing North Volume 2 is the second book of a two-volume project commissioned by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
I launched the first volume, on the period from federation to the 1970s, in Australia's centennial year, as a contribution to the celebrations of the centenary of federation.
This second volume covers the twenty years or so from the late 1970s to the end of the century - a period of extraordinary vigour in Australia's engagement with Asia.
Facing North is the result of co-operation between independent historians and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
It should not be taken as an official statement of policy; it reflects a composite analysis of the period, and seeks to be non-partisan and objective in its approach.
And while I am sure that I won't necessarily agree with all that is in it, I am confident that Facing North will be an invaluable reference work and a stimulus for further debate about our role in the region.
As the Facing North volumes show, Australia's engagement with the countries of Asia is one of the enduring themes in the history of Australia's foreign and trade policy.
Australia's relationships with the countries of Asia are an abiding priority in this Government's foreign and trade policy. The Government has strengthened and broadened Australia's relationships with them.
Australia's contribution to regional stability
Facing North underlines the extent of our shared interests with our neighbours in the security and stability of the region.
Australia is at the forefront of efforts to improve the region's security.
The Government is strengthening Australia's counter-terrorism links with the region.
We now have a well-established network of bilateral counter- terrorism agreements to help others detect threats and prevent further terrorist attacks.
These agreements build on the already extensive cooperation between Australian and regional police forces on transnational threats to Australia's and the region's security.
A few weeks ago I co-chaired in Bali, with my Indonesian counterpart, the second Regional Ministerial Conference on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime.
In addition to raising awareness of people smuggling and related transnational threats, the Bali Process is delivering practical outcomes - legislation to criminalise people smuggling and law enforcement cooperation, for example.
The Government has also strengthened our bilateral security relationships in Asia.
We now have a network of bilateral defence relationships and security dialogues that includes most countries in Asia.
We have established political/military dialogues with Japan, Korea, China, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines.
We are contributing to regional efforts to manage peacefully the tensions on the Korean Peninsula and disrupt the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Our efforts, including through these security alliances and regional dialogues, are helping to build greater confidence and trust among regional players - thereby enhancing the stability of the region.
As Facing North shows, the Government's efforts to enhance regional security build on a long history of Australian security cooperation with the region.
Australia's association with ASEAN, for example, has been long-standing - we became ASEAN's first dialogue partner in 1974.
We worked closely with ASEAN on the two defining issues that cemented its influence as a regional body - the Cambodian peace settlement and the refugee outflow following the upheaval in Indochina.
In 1994 we welcomed, too, the establishment of the first region- wide body devoted to security issues, the ASEAN Regional Forum, in which Australia is an active and constructive player.
Facing North gives a useful account of Australia's role in these early efforts at building regional security infrastructure.
Australia's contribution to regional prosperity
Australia has never been better placed to contribute to regional prosperity than over recent years.
Building on the reforms of the past two decades, the Coalition Government has strengthened Australia's economy.
We have reformed the labour market, restructured our tax system, and stripped away red tape regulation of business.
Significantly, we have removed the public debt burden, delivering the benefit of lower interest rates and more competitive exchange rates.
Australia now has a strong and sophisticated economy. And we are respected in the region for it.
It is only because the Government ensured Australia's economic prosperity and strength that Australia, along with Japan, was able to commit some $3 billion dollars to all three regional IMF programmes in responding to the East Asian financial crisis of the 1990s.
Our economy is also deeply enmeshed in the regional flow of trade, finance and people.
Asian countries account for seven of our ten largest export markets and are simultaneously sources of investment and skilled migrants.
Not surprisingly, much of the growth in trade took place with Asian markets that were themselves becoming more outward- looking.
Since the 80s, for example, ASEAN countries have cut applied tariffs by two-thirds and China has cut its tariff rate by about 70 per cent.
The Government is committed to supporting the development of free trade and open economies in Asia.
We have established a closer economic partnership to better integrate Australia, New Zealand and the ten members of ASEAN.
We have concluded a Free Trade Agreement with Singapore and are well advanced in our negotiations with Thailand.
And we are negotiating bilateral economic framework agreements with China and Japan.
These initiatives are a significant strengthening of our economic and broader relationships in the region.
They will complement our FTA with the United States and they support our objectives in the WTO Doha round of global trade negotiations.
Our bilateral initiatives build on efforts in regional forums, in particular the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group established in 1989.
Australia was central to the establishment of APEC and remains a leader in the organisation today.
We continue to support the vision set by APEC leaders at Bogor in 1994 for free trade by 2010, for developed countries, and by 2020, for developing countries.
That is why we continue our work in APEC - on transactions costs … on governance … on non-tariff barriers … and on trade and investment facilitation.
Facing North illustrates the recent history of Australia's economic engagement in Asia and, in doing so, shows how this Government has deepened and broadened successfully our economic ties.
Social and Cultural Engagement
The engagement of Australian society with Asian societies is another important theme of Facing North.
There is no doubt that people-to-people links are a vital element of Australia's relations with Asia.
The small but critical parts played by individuals - in business, education, migration and tourism - are the links in the chain that connect us to our neighbours in Asia.
Our diverse community is a major element in our people-to- people links - almost 5 percent of all Australians were born in Asia.
The second most frequently spoken language in Australian homes is the various dialects of Chinese.
Our expatriate communities in key business centres of Asia are integral components of the region's economies.
Our education system is a significant centre of learning for Asian students, long after the first such students came to Australia in large numbers under the Colombo Plan.
Some 155,000 students from Asia attended our educational institutions in 2000, or around 70 per cent of all foreign students here.
So it is no surprise that what happens in the region is today of greater interest to Australians than ever before - Facing North illustrates that point by examining the much greater coverage of regional affairs in the national media compared with 30 years ago.
Promoting good governance and development
Throughout Facing North readers will find references to the efforts of Governments past and present to helping our regional neighbours in times of difficulty.
Through our aid program, and our practical advocacy, we continue to encourage others in the region to benefit from good governance, democracy, and respect for human rights.
Our efforts in these areas reflect Australia's values as a liberal democratic and open society.
Nowhere have such Australian values been better demonstrated than through our contributions to peace and stability in East Timor.
We assisted the new East Timor through the difficult transition to independence and in its first year of nation-building.
The Government takes pride in that achievement and remains committed to helping East Timor prosper in the future.
Database of Historical Documents
Ladies and gentlemen
Let me now take this opportunity also to launch the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's new database of published historical documents from the 1970s.
This material, much of which is out of print, can now be accessed through the Department's website.
Researchers all over the world will be able to search and navigate a database consisting of thousands of pages of key Australian foreign policy documents.
I take great pride in the fact that DFAT makes the most determined effort of all departments to research and disseminate its history.
Conclusion
For his leadership of the Facing North project and for encouraging matters historical, I express my gratitude to the Secretary of my Department, Dr Ashton Calvert.
I would also like to thank the publisher, Melbourne University Publishing, the editors of the project, David Goldsworthy and Peter Edwards, for their important and central role, and all others involved.
Facing North will help to establish definitively the fact that Australia has an enduring and productive legacy of close engagement with Asia.
I commend it to you and have pleasure in declaring it launched.