Former Australian Labor Party leader appointed US Ambassador
Updated
Australia has opted for continuity and passion for all things American in its latest diplomatic appointment to Washington, naming former Labor Party leader and one time defence minister Kim Beazley to the post.
Presenter:Linda Mottram
Speakers:Professor Kim Beazley, Australia's Ambassador-designate to the United States; Professor Ian Chubb, Vice-Chancellor, Australian National University; Professor Geoffrey Garret, CEO United States Studies Centre, University of Sydney; Peter Samuelson, President and Co-founder, U.S. children's charity First Star; Dr Michael Fullilove, Global Issues program director, Lowy Institute for International Policy, Sydney
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MOTTRAM: Kim Beazley, Professor of Political Science at the University of Western Australia and chancellor of the Australian National University lost two elections for the Australian Labor Party .. one of them despite his party winning 51 per cent of the vote, such are the vagaries of Australia's political system. But as a former party leader, defence minister in the Hawke era and a passionate observer of all things American, he was the most obvious contender for the post of Australian Ambassador in Washington. And Mr Beazley says he can't think of anything that he'd rather do at this point.
BEAZLEY: There is always an immense and complex agenda on the table between Australia and the United States. We are one of the strongest allies of the United States and we speak to the United States with the authority of a friend.
MOTTRAM: At one level, Mr Beazley signals continuity, at least in his belief in the primacy of the Australia-U.S. relationship and specifically the alliance. But with international politics in flux, from the rise of Asia to climate change and global financial and economic stresses, the agenda for Mr Beazley will be anything but static.
BEAZLEY: This is just about the toughest ambassadorial job that we have. China I suppose is up there with it. And it is a complex one. You're addressing a multiplicity of constituencies in the United States and they don't all agree and to filter the Australian national interest through that process and to keep your bosses happy is a very difficult task indeed. But I look forward to it.
MOTTRAM: Though he loses Mr Beazley as Chancellor through this appointment, the Vice Chancellor of the Australian National University Professor Ian Chubb shares the almost universal view that it is the right appointment, describing Mr Beazley as one of the finest people he knows, with a great love of family, the university, and the United States.
CHUBB: I think he's never stopped thinking about how you position and where you position Australia and the US and the relationship. I know that he and I have talked about it off and on over the last couple of years and certainly a lot of his thinking time has been devoted to that. He's a very active member of the US-Australia Leadership Forum which meets a couple of times a year where senior members of the leadership of both countries get together and their agenda is always strategic development of the relationship. So I think, although his background is in history, I think he's very strategic in how he sees the relationship between our two countries developing.
MOTTRAM: Founder and CEO of the U-S Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, Doctor Geoffrey Garrett, says Mr Beazley will be received extremely well pointing to his high level connections over a decade, and his detailed understanding of national security issues.
GARRETT: And obviously Australia's commitment to Afghanistan like the US's looks like its now an enduring one. But I would also expect that Kim would be involved in more economic discussions, in particular given the importance both Prime Minister Rudd and President Obama have invested in the G-20.
MOTTRAM: From the other side of the U.S. Australia relationship, Barack Obama wants California lawyer and human rights scholar Jeff Bleich for U-S Ambassador to Australia. He's a political appointee, having campaigned for Mr Obama. But he's much more. One man who knows Mr Bleich's reputation well is Peter Samuelson, President and co-founder of the US children's charity First Star.
SAMUELSON: I know Jeff through one particular prism which is as a strong advocate for those who are normally unrepresented, abused and neglected children. He's worked for many charities and he's also got a background legally as a human rights scholar going way back. He was on the Iran-US claims tribunal in the Hague, he's litigated specifically a number of landmark cases and he was on the National Council of Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. So he's the real deal.
MOTTRAM: Doctor Michael Fullilove is director of the Global Issues program at the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney. He says these appointees reflect the big new issues on the agenda particularly for Australia and the US as allies.
FULLILOVE: I think issues like climate change, the global financial crisis, the role of the G-20 and other international institutions are all up for grabs in the alliance. I think the Prime Minister is very keen to be an influential voice in Obama's ear and in the US administration.
MOTTRAM: Doctor Fullilove also says that for both the new Ambassadors, in Washington and in Canberra, there is a particular challenge.
FULLILOVE: I think the truth is also that Obama knows less about Australia than some of his predecessors, he's less of an alliance person in a way than some of his predecessors. He was the first post-Cold War president, if you like, alliances are less important in his mind. He's got everybody in the world reaching out to him and of course he's got a very long global agenda.
