The New Australian Foreign Policy: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s Path in International Relations

Despite some critics Australia’s new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, shows confidence and skill in international diplomacy. He also engages eagerly with complexity in foreign relations where his predecessor John Howard seemed to recoil.

The new Prime Minister is swiftly changing the public face of Australia in the world. Interacting easily with people of all walks of life, of all nationalities and cultures, Kevin Rudd appears to be a supreme example of the cosmopolitan egalitarian. Appearing in cartoons as the schoolboy nerd or headmaster, he clearly loves intellectual grappling with the detail and complexity. In all of these respects he is the opposite to John Howard, whom he defeated at the federal election of November 2007. With his adopted Chinese name Lu Ke Wen he is the first Australian Prime Minister to be fluent in Mandarin. Indeed, that this PM speaks publicly in any language other than English sets him well apart from his predecessors. Add his deftness in diplomacy and we see a representative of Australian potentialities too long hidden from the world.

Three Pillars of Australian Foreign Policy

Kevin Rudd asserts that under his government foreign policy will rest on three pillars:

Each pillar bears equal weight – a clear break with the last eleven years under John Howard.

Contrast with the Howard Era

Australian government under John Howard viewed the world monochromatically, revering Australia’s core membership of the Anglophonic group of nations, with whom it shared common values, culture and religious traits. While trade with nations outside of this club was a good thing, they were seen in a suspicious light – even Europe. With only a few slight variations, the ANZUS alliance and US foreign policy formed the axis of Australia’s approach to international relations. The United Nations and other multi-national bodies were seen as peripheral concerns at best and were often held in contempt. Except for some military sallies abroad, Australia’s voice in the world was muted.

In his first speech on foreign policy as Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd declared that the retreat into the “fool’s paradise” under Howard was over. Australia would no longer try to live in “splendid isolation”. Foreign policy, along with foreign economic policy and national security policy, would now be both a natural expression and an extension of Australia’s domestic policy. Australia had been “too quiet for too long” in the major councils of the world and now had to be an “activist middle power”. This new direction is similar to that taken under Gareth Evans, Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Hawke governments of the 1980s.

Hankering for Multilateral Engagement

Kevin Rudd wants Australia to be a “greater force for good in the world.” This, along with pursuit of its own national and security interests, is why his government will engage in “creative middle-power diplomacy”. He cites ratification of the Kyoto agreement and vigorous participation in the Bali Climate Change Conference as prime examples of the new approach. Another is the intention to act strongly with the United Nations to meet world-wide challenges, one early step being to win a seat on the UN Security Council. Detractors, nevertheless, say his initial description of the approach is too sketchy and that he is guided by means rather than ends.

Considerable political controversy emanated from Rudd’s decision not to include Japan in his first world trip as Prime Minister. The USA, Europe and China were on the itinerary. Since 2007 China has been Australia’s largest trading partner, a position held by Japan for the previous 36 years. Japan is extremely sensitive about the rise of Chinese power. Critics accused Rudd of needlessly snubbing Japan, even after the Japanese government had officially stated it was at ease about the matter and that Rudd would visit at least twice later in the year. The furore suggested that a number of high-profile Australians could not accept that the Prime Minister had not adopted the USA’s view of China as a potential enemy and Japan as an instrument in the counter-strategy. The message: Although the Australian-American alliance is strong, Rudd will not base Australian foreign policy simply on the US world-view.

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Jun 10, 2008 7:44 AM

Wendy :

Indeed, I agree with you that every country has its own world view that moulding its foreign policy and each differs from one another. I am a Malaysian Chinese and have had witnessed and experienced a lot of international affairs that are triggered off based on nationality, ethnicity, and race; and all wars in the past happenned simly because one wants to be 'the best/superior race'. I was an international student to Australia, Murdoch University; indeed, it is comparably more isolated than any other countries and having an odd standing in international politics; besides, not many are aware of its foreign policy and goals. Japan has been building its Asian diplomacy way ahead of Australia's initiative. As much as the Chinese would see Japan a threat, and/or vice versa is much more of a historical issue whereas, in my opinion, contemporary politics should adopt an introspect policy. Having the South Korean Ban Ki-Moon being appointed as secretary general with United Nations, no one is wishing to see a week or failing UN entity; the coming signing of Kyoto Protocal would be a benchmark deciding how the world order operates. I am looking forward to it.

Wendy