Prime Minister of Australia, The Hon Julia Gillard MP has announced the commissioning of a White Paper on Australia in the Asian Century, at a luncheon in Melbourne hosted by Asialink and the Asia Society AustralAsia Centre, writes Will McCallum.
Prime Minister of Australia, The Hon Julia Gillard MP has announced the commissioning of a White Paper on Australia in the Asian Century, at a luncheon in Melbourne hosted by Asialink and the Asia Society AustralAsia Centre.
“The Asian century has begun and my Government is leading Australia through its challenges and towards its opportunities”, the Prime Minister told the luncheon.
“Asia has never been of greater global significance as global economic and strategic weight shifts from west to east,” she said.
Dr Ken Henry AC will lead the preparation of the White Paper, which will provide “the analysis and understanding which will ensure that every part of Government is working with the same approach.”
The keynote address was tuned in to by hundreds worldwide via livestream and over 300 guests attended in person, including Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Denis Richardson, Vice Chancellor of The University of Melbourne Professor Glynn Davis and Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle.
Also in attendance was former Foreign Minister, Professor Gareth Evans AO QC, University of Melbourne Vice Chancellor’s Fellow Professor Ross Garnaut, former Premier of Victoria, John Brumby, along with former diplomat and Founding Director of Asia Society AustralAsia Centre, Richard Woolcott AC.
China was prominent in the Prime Minister’s address. As Australia’s largest trading partner and the world’s fastest growing economy, China’s transformation has profound implications for Australia, the region and the global order.
“A growing, successful China is in the interest of every country in the region, including our own and because our national strength, and that of our ally, is respected in the region and the world,” she said.
The reciprocity of Australia’s economy with China and Asia more generally was central to the PM’s remarks.
“In the Asian century, what used to be considered our traditional disadvantages – our reliance on natural resources, our location in the world – become great new strengths”, she said.
Echoing the recent promotion of Australian service exports by Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd, the PM argued that China’s rise is fundamentally in Australia’s economic interest, as urbanization and the new middle classes drive demand for Australian resources and services.
“They’ll look to countries like Australia for tertiary educations and for technical skills, they’ll travel in new ways, seeking new custom-made holiday experiences, not the package tours of former years and through life they’ll want sophisticated financial advice and the benefits of the world’s best medical services as well,” she said.
She went on to highlight the impact of China’s scale – stating that “now when a person first gets a car, a computer and a mobile phone, it changes their life. When hundreds of millions of people first get these things, it changes the world.”
Strategic affairs expert Dr Hugh White, who last month delivered a public lecture at Asialink, said Ms Gillard had delivered potentially the most significant foreign policy speech by an Australian leader in a decade.
”Precisely because for the first time an Australian prime minister has acknowledged that the rise of China is not just about new markets – it’s about changing Australia’s national situation fundamentally. She deserves immense credit for saying that,” he said.
Beyond just the focus on China, the PM situated the wider rise of Asia as a national priority, asserting that: “in the Asian century, business as usual is not enough.”
“What we know clearly is there isn’t a single aspect of government policies and national planning that won’t be touched by the great changes to come,” she said.
The task set for Dr Henry and his team was described as “substantial” and comprises the intellectual task of the White Paper itself and the public task of the process of its development and discussion; “to ensure these implications are understood in every part of our nation.”
The White Paper announcement has been received positively by a broad section of Australia’s international relations community.
Dr Sally Percival Wood, Manager of Asialink Applied Research and Analysis, says the announcement is welcome news:
“The White Paper, and the policy reforms that it sets out to deliver, may well be the defining legacy of her government,” she said.
She said Australia must not lose sight of its near neighbours in formulating a coordinated approach to the region
“Dr Henry should consider ASEAN centrality in the White Paper deliberations in positioning a ‘new Australia’ alongside what the Prime Minister calls the ‘new China’, the ‘new India’ and the ‘new Indonesia’ of the ‘Asian Century’. ■
Further perspectives from stakeholders across a range of sectors, along with media coverage, video and photos are available at the following address: www.asialink.unimelb.edu.au/whitepaper
To read the keynote address in full, click here.
