Speech

1 August 2006

To the Japan Press Club

Australia-Japan: A Global Partnership

Introduction

Thanks very much, Mr Yajima. Ladies and gentlemen, I am very pleased to have this opportunity to speak to the Press Club here about the shared interests of Australia and Japan and the potential we have to build on what has been an enormously beneficial relationship for both of our countries.

A little over six months ago, in December last year, I was in Al Muthanna province in Southern Iraq and I was visiting our Australian troops.

As we made our way into the base at Camp Smitty, we walked by a long line of Japanese jeeps with the Rising Sun emblazoned on the sides.

As well as meeting Australian and British military commanders, I saw the Commander of the Japanese contingent.

Here were Australian soldiers working hand in glove, day in and day out, with Japanese service personnel - our soldiers in fact had the task of providing a secure environment for the Japanese to operate in.

The obvious point to make here is that we have come a long way in just a few decades.

This Iraq co-operation was a clear demonstration of the growing strategic relationship and more broadly our ever-deepening bilateral relationship.

But more importantly, I think, it was a manifestation of what really binds our two countries closely together.

To understand this point you just need to ask: why were Australia and Japan there?

We were there because we value freedom.

We are liberal, market-based democracies. We know freedom and believe it is worth promoting. Saddam Hussein had denied freedom to the Iraqi people.

We believe in a secure international order and Saddam Hussein's Iraq had rejected that order.

In the post-Saddam environment we believed we had a duty to support the Iraqi people as they bravely embraced democracy.

Of course, we were also there because we are both strong allies of the United States of America.

And we don't believe the entire burden of defending our values and the secure international order should be left to the United States alone.

True allies will share the load.

In the post 9/11 world, this is the reality of the Australia-Japan relationship.

We are developed, liberal democratic, American allies in the Asia Pacific.

And that means we share many of the same values, many of the same opportunities and many of the same responsibilities.

We face global security challenges which we must not be afraid to tackle.

The conflagration in the Middle East that continues as we speak is relevant to us.

The actions of Hezbollah are an affront to our values and ultimately a challenge to international order.

We cannot reasonably expect Israel to suffer civilian deaths and casualties while living under the constant threat of annihilation from such a committed and destructive enemy.

And we cannot ignore the role of Iran and Syria in supporting this terrorist threat.

We all hope for an end to this conflict, for the sake of the region and for the sake of the terrified civilians on both sides caught up in the violence.

But the international community needs to support lasting solutions - solutions that give Israel security and return sovereignty to the Lebanese Government, removing this state within a state that is Hezbollah.

Closer to home Australia and Japan are united in addressing the pressing security challenge of North Korea.

When the DPRK ignored warnings from the international community last month and irresponsibly went ahead with missile tests, Japan and Australia acted together.

Australia supported Japan's efforts to gain a strong UN Security Council resolution and we join with the international community in demanding that North Korea reaffirm its missile test moratorium, and return immediately and unconditionally to the six-party talks.

North Korea must also act to address the issue of abductions properly.

Australia and Japan stand shoulder-to-shoulder in the fight against global terrorism, demonstrated by the regular meetings of our Ambassadors for Counter-Terrorism and the coordination of our programs of assistance on these issues for the countries of Southeast Asia.

We have also committed ourselves to preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

This has been seen in our leadership in forming the Proliferation Security Initiative, encouraging the participation by others, and hosting a number of major PSI exercises.

The multilateral trading system is of fundamental importance to us all, and both our countries were disappointed by the suspension of WTO negotiations.

We welcome and share Japan's firm commitment to get negotiations back on track towards an agreement.

In the area of climate change, Australia and Japan again led by example as inaugural members of the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate.

This groundbreaking approach, bringing together six key developing and developed countries, will drive practical, technology-based, public-private efforts to address climate change while supporting economic development.

Our nations are just as active in relation to regional issues.

We want East Asian regional architecture to evolve in an open, transparent and inclusive manner and have agreed to foster such structures in the Asia-Pacific through the development of APEC, the East Asian Summit and other regional fora.

We do so in the expectation that the United States will continue to play a prominent role in bringing prosperity and stability to our region.

Australia and Japan have also become regular partners in dealing with disasters and security crises in our region.

This was the case with the Indian Ocean tsunami, when Australia and Japan helped lead the international aid effort.

We worked together in East Timor when Australian and Japanese peacekeepers played crucial roles in the transition to independence.

We both helped establish a lasting peace in Cambodia.

And back during the East Asian Financial crisis we were the only two countries that contributed to all three IMF rescue packages.

I believe we have a great opportunity to continue expanding our strategic engagement and our highly successful economic ties, and take this already very successful relationship to the next level.

Bilateral Agenda

In my discussions today and tomorrow with Prime Minister Koizumi and senior members of his government, we will be looking to give practical effect to our ambitious bilateral agenda.

The cooperative activities I have already mentioned show how far we have already come in developing our bilateral security and defence relations, but I think more can be achieved.

I am aware of course of the important continuing constitutional debate in Japan but we have to ask ourselves, for example, if we are doing enough joint training and exercising to prepare our people adequately and to ensure their safety when they work together on humanitarian missions in places like Aceh or Iraq.

We might also need to consider whether the state and direction of the strategic relationship are reflected adequately by our current memorandum of understanding on defence exchange.

Australia stands ready to advance our strategic partnership, at a pace with which Japan is comfortable.

Australia and Japan are also working increasingly closely with our partner, the United States. We have already agreed to trilateral ministerial meetings between Australia, Japan and the United States, and I was very pleased to host the first such meeting with Secretary of State Rice and Foreign Minister Aso in Sydney in March this year.

At that meeting we agreed to explore scope for practical trilateral cooperation in areas like counter-terrorism, counter-proliferation and disaster relief.

In fact, our shared experience as US allies offers considerable potential to develop our bilateral strategic relationship in the future.

Economic relationship - building on strength

I would like to turn now to the economic relationship.

In 1957, Australia's then Trade Minister McEwen and Japan's Prime Minister Kishi signed the Agreement on Commerce between Australia and Japan.

The Agreement was the starting point for what has become one of the most successful and harmonious trade and economic relationships in history.

It has had a huge impact on economic development in both our nations.

Japan has been the single biggest export destination for Australian goods since the 1960s.

And Japanese business has invested heavily in our productive capacity.

This has been a relationship of tremendous mutual benefit. Australia's quality and reliability of supply - particularly of energy, mineral resources and agricultural products - has played its own important role in Japan's stellar economic achievements of the past 50 years.

But we must never take such arrangements for granted.

Our generation now needs to make its contribution to the future of the strategic and the trading relationship.

In doing so, it needs to show the same vision as those who signed the Commerce Agreement in 1957.

In my view the best way to achieve this is through a Free Trade Agreement, which we believe will be an important element in the long term strategic relationship between the two countries by tying our two democratic and industrialised countries more closely together.

So I am pleased that the joint study group established by our two Prime Ministers in April 2005 has committed to complete the study towards the end of this year.

I think the early indications from the FTA feasibility study show strong advantages for both our countries.

I am told that econometric modelling undertaken by our two governments shows that Australia and Japan stand to gain more from an FTA with each other than any of the other FTAs either of us is negotiating.

With regional integration in East Asia firmly on the agenda, an agreement between our two countries would be a positive step forward towards the broader vision of an East Asia community.

It would consolidate the increasing economic linkages between our two countries and, importantly, help Japan to secure reliable supplies of key minerals and energy in the future and realise its food security objectives.

Of course, we know there are sensitivities and that finalising an FTA will be difficult, that it will require considerable flexibility and that it needs to make economic and political sense.

And given Japan's importance to Australia, we would not want to do anything that would harm this important relationship.

As was the case with the Commerce Agreement - and the Basic Treaty, to which I will turn next - negotiating an FTA may prove difficult and complex, but in the end it will yield enormous benefits to both our countries.

Conclusion

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In the 30 years since Australia and Japan signed the historic Basic Treaty of Friendship and Co-operation between our two countries, Prime Ministers Howard and Koizumi have decided to celebrate this milestone with the 2006 Australia-Japan Year of Exchange, which has brought our people-to-people linkages even closer together, including through cultural performances in both countries, conferences on the future of our relationship, and exhibitions on its history.

But on this visit I will be focussing predominantly on the future of relations between our two countries.

It is a future underpinned by our shared commitments to liberal democratic values, the shared benefits to be gained by boosting our economic and trade relations, and our shared interests in regional and global security.

What we have now is a great opportunity to expand our strategic engagement and our highly successful economic ties, in what is now a truly global partnership.

In short, we should consolidate our excellent relationship by moving it to the next level in all its manifestations.

An event in my home state of South Australia symbolises the new relationship we are building.

The first ever goodwill visit by a Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) P3-C aircraft was to Edinburgh Air Force Base outside Adelaide in May this year.

The visitors were surprised to find that some of our people spoke fluent Japanese and even more surprised when one of our Air Force officers took the microphone on the bus they were travelling in and announced an impromptu Karaoke session, tackling Japanese- favourites such as the 'Sukiyaki' song. And of course, the Japanese crew joined in on this Karaoke bus ride.

This is a type of cooperation that I very much support - as long as it is not elevated to Ministerial level!

Thank you very much.

ENDS