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The election of the Labor government in 2007 appeared to usher in a new era of EU-Australian relations with a greater focus on those areas of agreement between Australia and the EU. This paper therefore explores the potential for closer cooperation between the EU and Australia in the area of sustainable development. It takes climate change as a 'litmus test' for the EU-Australia relationship due to the prominence given to the issue by both the EU and Australia and the contentious nature of the issue in relations between the EU and Australia under the previous government. After outlining the major tenets of the 'new era' under the Rudd government, those areas of policy divergence and convergence and thus opportunities for closer cooperation are highlighted and the residual issues that could offer opportunities for closer cooperation. It is concluded that these residual issues hinder developments in the relationship, but more signs of a new relationship are seen than previously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the post-war period Australian Prime Ministers have played a proactive role in formulating foreign policy towards Japan. This paper explores the role of executive leadership towards Japan and its impact on the bilateral relationship. The Howard period and current Rudd-led initiatives on whaling, nuclear disarmament, climate change and regional architecture are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the current state of economic relations that the United Kingdom has with New Zealand and Australia, in light of the former's decision to leave the European Union.  Although there are prospects for future trade between these countries post-Brexit based on the three countries' current comparative advantages, perhaps the greatest scope is for greater trade in services along with greater investment flows.  Trade in food produce would be affected by changes in trade policy post-Brexit but other goods such as forestry, mineral and manufacturing products would be more affected by changes in general economic conditions and the relative competiveness of the industries in international markets. Already these aspects of trade are important and are expected to grow and develop over time.  Much of the future negotiations between the three countries will take up a range of issues associated with investment and the trade in services and much of the future prospects for growth in trade might depend on the success of these negotiations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia's relationship with South Africa was founded on their being two groups of colonies, and later dominions, in the British Empire. As remote settler societies there were certain affinities, anxiously promoted by South Africa and usually resisted by Australia. Australian prime ministers played a major role in helping to bring about majority rule, but since 1994 the relationship has stiffened. For South Africa, partly for geopolitical reasons, the Commonwealth remains a functional concept; for Australia, it has lost much of its efficacy. Australia and South Africa have also exchanged two significant migrations: of Australian miners and artisans to the Rand around the turn of last century, and of South African emigrants to Australia in our own time. Trade between the two countries is increasing, and a new range and diversity in contact has occurred, with the resumption of full relations since the apartheid years. Given South Africa's disjunction from its immediate past, it is difficult at present to indicate what forms the relationship might take in future. The paper therefore sketches the whole history of interaction between the two countries, drawing attention to its phases and reconfigurations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia and Canada have been active participants in international climate change negotiations since the early 1990s and have often shared negotiating positions. This paper discusses why, in spite of considerable similarities in national circumstances, the Canadian government chose to ratify the Kyoto Protocol in 2002, while the Australian government decided against doing so. It is argued that a range of factors led to a narrower conception of the national interest in the case of Australia, which encouraged a focus on the short-term, economic costs of implementing the Protocol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an update on developments in Australia, current as of January 1998. Includes discovery of a secret briefing paper drawn up for ministers attending a July 1997 meeting of South Pacific Forum finance ministers in Queensland; Establishment of an Images of Australia Unit headed by diplomats in Canberra.

Australia's climate change relationship with developing countries is framed by the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Under those agreements, Australia has committed to take a lead in cutting greenhouse gas emissions and to provide technological and financial support to developing countries. In practice, Australian governments of both political hues have adopted a somewhat ambiguous and ambivalent attitude to developing countries within climate change politics and their fulfilment of those commitments has been uneven. This is particularly so if the concept of the 'Global South' is expanded from developing countries to include those people who are vulnerable to the environmental, social and economic impacts of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses primarily on Australian government responses to the 1952 Peace Conference for Asia and the Pacific Regions. Because the conference was to be held in Peking, it was the subject of immense controversy: Chinese communists were fighting Australian soldiers in Korea and Australian peace activists, most communist or 'fellow travellers', sought to travel behind the 'bamboo curtain'. In this context, the Menzies government's policies on passports were sharply silhouetted. Although this conference has been overlooked in the literature, we can infer from the trajectory of relevant Cold War historiography that Prime Minister Menzies would adopt restrictive, even draconian, policies. This article argues otherwise. It suggests that it was that consistent champion of civil liberties, former deputy prime minister, attorney-general and secretary of the General Assembly of the United Nations and now, in 1952, Leader of the Opposition, Dr Evatt, who favoured more repressive action towards prospective delegates. In contrast, Menzies and his Cabinet were more lenient and shifted towards a harsher policy belatedly and reluctantly. This episode, therefore, challenges some comfortable assumptions about how the early Cold War was fought in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia and New Zealand have done relatively well in international terms in combating COVID-19, aided by their geographical isolation and political leadership. Overall, they have pursued strategies of assertive suppression in relation to the virus, varying to some extent between 'softer' and 'harder' versions, as among the federal government in Australia, the various Australian states and territories, and New Zealand. Economically both countries have experienced a recession, New Zealand more so than Australia. Governments in both countries have pursued Keynesian policies, acting decisively to provide wage support and assist businesses. The assumption is that these policies will provide the necessary stimulus to prevent economic collapse and to enhance the prospects for subsequent economic recovery. Internationally the relative success of Australia and New Zealand in responding to COVID enhances their ability to influence the post-COVID world. While Australia as the larger country is better positioned in this respect, New Zealand also has considerable 'soft power'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite expectations of a Labor victory, the Liberal-National Coalition government in Australia was narrowly returned to office in the elections of 18 May 2019. The Coalition campaigned on a status quo platform, whereas Labor promised mildly redistributive policies in the name of fairness. The Coalition's success is built on its very strong position in Queensland and Western Australia, also picking up two seats in Tasmania. Comparisons with Trumpism and Brexit are too simple, but the Coalition had a populist appeal among less affluent and less well educated Australians, complementing its traditional base among higher income groups; the biggest swings to Labor were in the most affluent and highly educated electorates rather than in the working class heartlands. The Coalition's success gives Scott Morrison as prime minister a strong authority; Labor now has a new leadership with Anthony Albanese replacing Bill Shorten. The biggest policy challenges for the Coalition government concern the economy, and climate change and energy. Key international issues for Australia are US-China tensions and implementing the Pacific 'step up'; the hard line policies relating to asylum seekers arriving by boat are likely to continue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australians often disregard the Crown, calling it ‘merely symbolic’ and minimising its constitutional and cultural significance. Despite this, the Crown has remained a potent taken-for-granted symbol within Australian nationhood rituals, the most important of which commemorates the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) landings at Gallipoli in 1915. For 100 years Anzac Day’s social meanings were jostled over, exalted, criticised and contested, and by the centenary its symbolism had been radically reordered. New ceremonies at Canberra’s Australian War Memorial and Camp Gallipoli (a private event) prompted citizens to perform the nation’s origin myths in fresh ways that asserted a unified Australian identity. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and drawing on notions of banal nationalism and the ambiguity of political symbols, the author argues that these new Anzac ceremonies employ the Crown as a central symbol in unusual ways. By analysing the Crown’s ambiguous role in these reformulated rituals, she asks how the Crown retains its relevance, despite its widespread dismissal in a country where many remain committed to republican reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Abbott Coalition government, elected to office in Australia in September 2013, has not had a major focus on the developing world. Nevertheless, in terms of substance this government has been engaged with a number of issues that relate to, or have implications for, the developing world. At a general level these issues concern development cooperation, refugees and asylum seekers, and climate change. At a regional level Australia has had particular concerns relating to Indonesia and the Pacific island countries; there has also been some focus on India and Indian Ocean regionalism. Beyond Australia’s immediate region there has been engagement in some issues relating to Southwest Asia and the Middle East, and Africa. The government’s approach to issues concerning the developing world reflects its pragmatism based on a perception of Australian interests and an identification with the countries of the developed world as led by the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The activities of successive Governors General of Australia have traditionally been couched in secrecy and this has prevented any meaningful public discussion of the subject. This article argues that, regardless of whether Australia continues to be a monarchy or transforms itself into a republic, far-reaching reforms are essential to ensure greater accountability for the position of head of state. In the view of the authors, heads of state do play, and should play, political roles, but they should be firmly and explicitly constrained in so doing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canada and Australia, as Westminster parliamentary federal systems, share many institutional similarities. However, there are key divergences in the exercise of institutional practices within their judiciaries and legislatures. In spite of these divergences, there has been a policy convergence in the area of same-sex unions. The causes of this convergence are twofold: first, the institutional arrangements under federalism provided the mechanisms for addressing same-sex unions; and second, it was the constituent units that utilised these institutional mechanisms in order to pursue the recognition of same-sex unions. Both the constituent units within Canada and Australia generated an ‘upward’ pressure on their respective federal governments (specifically the legislatures) to address the question of same-sex marriage. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

North-South issues as such do not figure prominently in Australia's international policy but are mostly implicit. These issues arise particularly in the context of Australia's relations with countries in its immediate vicinity, including the South Pacific, Indonesia and East Timor. There are also some global issues in the North-South context where Australia is affected. Australian governments, in developing policies relating to this context, have been influenced by a 'practical realism' that puts first priority on Australian interests as perceived by governments at any given time. The way in which those policies have been developed, in both the regional and the global contexts, can be assessed through an examination of issues relating to security and international economic relations. Australia's alliance relationship has a strong bearing on the way Australia approaches the security issues. In relation to international economic issues there are many commonalities with fellow producers of raw materials in the Global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immigration and border protection policies are driven by national interest. However, the national interest can be more broadly and more narrowly conceived, depending in part on the degree to which the future of the individual state is understood to be contingent on a shared global future and on the recognition that the short-term costs of international cooperation may bring long-term collective benefits. Whereas such global interdependence is recognised in international statecraft in the domains of aid, trade and climate change, such recognition does not extend to immigration. Australia's national policies towards human movement from the Global South tend to be driven in large part by exaggerated fears (of unregulated border crossings) or a narrowly instrumental approach to the economic benefits of human capital transfers (migrants filling skills gaps and providing flexibility in the labour market). A broader conception of migration would take into account the potential developmental benefits of human movement for source nations and for migrants themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Like many states in the Global South, the Australian economy relies heavily on the natural resource sector for a large proportion of its export earnings. Four decades ago, this basic similarity eventually induced Australian governments to become 'fellow travellers' with the G77 quest for a new international economic order. When that quest was put to rest by the rise of neo-liberalism, Australian governments then became fervent believers in free rather than managed trade; but in the contemporary era where neo-liberalism is now a dying policy creed, Australia's current resource boom begs the question of whether the time is now ripe for Canberra to reinvent this role. What the rationales might be for that 'back to the future' policy move is explored in the context of Australia's iron ore trade with China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In identifying the determinants of Australia's foreign aid relationship with developing countries (sometimes labelled 'the South'), this article examines the institutional history of official Australian development assistance since the Second World War. Several, often competing, narratives are delineated. These include: an ongoing questioning within the aid 'policy community', such as it is, of the purpose of foreign aid and the nature of its relationship to foreign policy; bureaucratic contestation over access to foreign aid resources; the desire of Australian foreign aid decision-makers to ensure their control, increasingly via managerialist methods, of aid delivery; and an avoidance by decision-makers of viewing the South as a politically relevant entity. Taken together, these narratives portray an aid programme that has become more 'professionalised' over time, but which finds itself institutionally inhibited from engaging meaningfully with the political nature of international development relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pakistan fell further into the grip of religious extremists when Salmaan Taseer was shot by his bodyguard in the most high-profile political assassination since the murder of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007. The Punjab governor was killed for condemning a blasphemy law used to persecute minorities and settle scores. Revelations in 250,000 classified US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks spawned diplomatic crises and shocking revelations across the world, including allegations of dirty tricks by the US drug firm Pfizer and espionage by Shell in Nigeria; Rahul Gandhi in India saying Hindu fundamentalists were a bigger threat than militant Islamists, and fears about the security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons. The International Criminal Court indicted some of Kenya's most powerful men over the post-election violence that saw 1,500 people killed. An area the size of France and Germany in Queensland was inundated in Australia's worst floods in half a century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pakistan was hit by the worst natural disaster in its history-five million people lost their homes in the floods. Paul Kagame was re-elected with 93% of the vote in Rwanda's presidential election but there were concerns about his increasingly authoritarian government. Australia's close elections led to Julia Gillard remaining prime minister at the head of a minority government. Kenyans celebrated the introduction of their new constitution. New Zealand was rocked by an earthquake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The President of Fiji abrogated the 1997 Constitution in April 2009 and the country was suspended from the Pacific Islands Forum and the Commonwealth, despite Fiji disclosing a potential time line for general elections by 2014 under a new open-list proportional voting system. The European Union subsidy for Fiji's sugar industry was also frozen following accusations that Fiji had breached the 2007 revised Cotonou Agreement, where it promised to hold elections by 2009. This article charts the tensions between the post-2006 coup Fiji government and the 1997 Constitution caused by the legal action from the deposed government, and differences with the Fiji Military Forces Commander Commodore Frank Bainimarama over a quick return to democracy push from the Pacific Islands Forum, the Commonwealth and the European Union. Continued diplomatic pressure from Forum members, Australia and New Zealand increased tensions as Fiji deported the High Commissioners of these two countries in November 2009 and imposed Public Emergency Regulations that curbed freedom of expression of local critics. In what could be seen as a deepening of military rule, Bainimarama clarified in early 2010 that the military would continue to monitor the elected government after the proposed 2014 election and barred mainstream political parties from participating in any future political forum or general elections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the early post-war era, a Japanese revival was a source of profound concern to members of the Commonwealth, especially Australia and New Zealand. Britain, having abdicated the leading role in the Western Pacific to the United States, attempted to retain some influence in the region, but economic frailties and lack of Commonwealth unity undermined these efforts. Under American guidance, diplomatic, commercial and (to a lesser extent) security ties with Japan were later promoted, but elements of cooperation and competition persisted in Commonwealth relations with their former enemy. Ultimately, Britain, Australia and New Zealand placed their respective regional identities ahead of their Commonwealth loyalties. Japan took advantage of this situation to promote its own national interests. Hence, the wider aperture of the 'Commonwealth lens' throws into sharp relief the contours of a number of members' bilateral relationships with Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia in the 1950s received and subsidised its first international students from neighbouring Asian countries under the Colombo Plan to train 'the expert minds' necessary for development. During the 1980s subsidies were phased out, but the number of international students greatly increased. Migration rules based on points encouraged such students to become skilled migrants. Globalisation brought massive increases in student numbers and competition for revenue from their fees. English-speaking countries have market advantages because of the 'empire' of the United States; but it is dangerous to become over-reliant on overseas fee income. Public funding and curriculum structures need reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Australian federal election of 24 November 2007 saw the defeat of the Howard Liberal-National Party coalition government after almost 12 years in office and brought to power a Labor government, the first since 1996, under the leadership of Kevin Rudd. John Howard, Australia's second longest-serving prime minister, became only the second prime minister to lose his own seat at an election. This article summarizes the election result and places it in the context of post-Second World War Australian political and electoral history. The highly unusual character of the large swing to the Labor Party is underlined, as is the rarity of a change of government in Australia since the Second World War. The article also examines the influence of the political leadership of the two major parties in contributing to the changing climate of opinion during 2007 and surveys the campaign itself, underlining the many problems experienced by the Howard government in the final weeks of its life. Finally, the article emphasizes the critical roles that interest rates, climate change and industrial relations all played in fatally undermining the Howard ascendancy. The government, faced with a politically credible and electorally attractive opponent, emerging economic difficulties and a shifting policy agenda, was unable to present itself as equipped to deal with new local and global challenges after a long period in power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proceeds through a case study of commemorative rhetoric in a British settler state, Australia, and in a provincial capital, Brisbane, whose dominant commemorative group, the Anzac Day Commemoration Committee (ADCC), had claims to have invented the national memorial rituals for the principal day of remembrance. It briefly surveys the broader Australian commemorative background, then explores the control of Anzac Day in Brisbane, focusing on accommodations and alliances between political, civil and religious leaders and the principal returned soldiers' organization, the Returned Sailors' and Soldiers' Imperial League of Australia (RSSILA) on the ADCC, in Anzac Day activities, and in Anzac Day rhetoric. The article suggests that the theme of 'triumphalism' has been underplayed in analysis of interwar commemorative rhetoric in Australia, and that cooperation, accommodation and alliance were more typical of interwar commemoration than contest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After 12 years the Liberals lose power in Canada and the unknown Conservative leader Stephen Harper becomes prime minster. In Tanzania Jakaya Kekwete succeeds Ben Mkapa as president after peaceful elections. Days of race riots in Sydney are the worst-ever in Australia. Bombs and hostage taking plague the Niger Delta. Kenya's former anti-corruption chief produces from an Oxford college a devastating report on widespread corruption. As copper and tourism boom in Zambia the country is rated the fifth best for investment in Africa. A split in the opposition deepens the political crisis in Zimbabwe. The King of Lesotho launches the world's first free countrywide AIDS testing programme. India steps up funding for Commonwealth projects. And Pakistan allows Indian films to be shown for the first time in 40 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Empire–Commonwealth played a key role in the evolution of Australia's international position. However, the post-1960s Commonwealth has only been of minor significance for Australia. The Commonwealth provides a backdrop for a number of Australia's bilateral relationships, the most important of which are those with Britain, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Canada, India, Malaysia and Singapore. The multilateral context provided by the Commonwealth is relevant to advancing Australian goals concerning North–South relations, world trade, South Pacific and southern African issues and newer issues such as the ‘war on terrorism’. Australia is a major contributor to Commonwealth aid programmes. The Commonwealth dimension has some relevance to the republican debate in Australia, although it is not a primary concern. Australia is a major participant in the ‘civil society’ aspect of the Commonwealth. The low priority accorded to the modern Commonwealth by Australia is generally a bipartisan matter: the Commonwealth has its uses but is not central to Australia's contemporary international objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accepted historical view of British–Australian relations during the early Cold War emphasizes compliance, cooperation and dependency. Australia's acquiescence to British pressure to establish an effective security service and her readiness to permit British testing of atomic weapons on Australian soil are assumed to typify this close if subordinate relationship. The two countries, after all, shared a mutual interest in combating communism, globally and locally. However, an examination of one key aspect of the non-military response to the Cold War—anti-subversive and anti-communist propaganda—reveals a more complex picture. Using recently-released files from British and Australian archives, this article argues that attempts by a counter-propaganda unit of the British Foreign Office, the highly-secret Information Research Department, to forge a close working relationship with the Menzies government were met with indifference or resistance. Such unresponsiveness in such a crucial area challenges the accepted assumption that Australia in the 1950s, at the height of the Cold War, was a lackey of Great Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia's and Canada's world war historiographies are virtually mutually exclusive nationalist discourses, yet each nation fought as part of the same Commonwealth and alliance. Each invented a similar myth about the potency of its warriors. Each carefully gauged its level of participation, agonizing especially over military conscription. Each contributed to the global strategic outcome in World War II in its own distinctive way. And each found a different place for war in its celebration of nationhood. The contrasts are not insignificant, but on closer examination they are outweighed by the similarities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Australia regarded the Middle East as an area of secondary importance, policy towards Israel began looming large in Australian politics in the early 1970s. Moreover, Australia's Middle East policy was often a subject of bitter controversy and acrimonious debates among its politicians within both the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and the Liberal Party. The Australian government was compelled to reassess its attitude towards Israel according to the expedients of the moment and the pressure exerted by parties and individuals. Australia's policy towards Israel was largely determined by pragmatic considerations, both political and economic, and party doctrine played a marginal rôle in it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prime Minister Menzies would have been astonished if in the year of his death in 1978 he had been told that within 25 years a momentum to convert Australia to a republic would be manifest, and a proposal for that purpose put to the Australian electors. How did this change, so inconceivable in Menzies's lifetime, come about? How was it handled? Why, in the event, did the attempt to change the Australian Constitution fail? What are the lessons of this referendum for Australia? Are there any lessons for the United Kingdom? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional understandings of Australian foreign policy hold that a decisive break with the past in external relations occurred only after 1972 and the arrival of Gough Whitlam as Prime Minister. Whitlam, it is claimed, began the process of severing out-dated imperial attachments to Britain, thus setting Australia on an independent course in world affairs based on a more mature assessment of the national interest that defined Australia as part of a wider Asia region. In contrast, the period between 1949 and 1972--an era dominated by the premiership of Sir Robert Menzies--is seen as a time of docile subservience to great power protectors, which sustained a conservative and reactionary monoculture at home while alienating Australia's Asian neighbours abroad. This study contends that this understanding of the beginning of the 'modern' era in Australian foreign policy does not accord with the historical evidence. It is, instead, an image that has been ideologically constructed to legitimize Whitlam's self-proclaimed revolution in foreign affairs and to validate the abortive attempt to integrate Australia into Asia during the 1980s and 1990s. The ruling foreign policy orthodoxy, however, is one that is widely accepted, and little questioned, in Australian academic and journalistic circles. Yet it rests on a profound, and often intentional, misreading of Australian foreign policy during the Menzies era. In effect, the pillars that have supported Australian foreign policy for over two decades since 1972 are myths manufactured in hindsight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the controversy in the Constitutional Convention in Australia. Significance of a preliminary plebiscite; Information on the delegates appointed to the Convention; Details on the Convention's resolutions and recommendations.

Discusses the development of the linkages between Australia and Southeast Asia. Trends in the postware era; Criteria used in the examination of Australian strategic perceptions of and commitment to Southeast Asian development and regional security; Objectives of Australian foreign policy.

Presents information on the October 3, 1998 election developments in Australia. Campaign activities of legislators; Politicians who won the elections; Social issues addressed by candidates.