Australia's foreign affairs

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Last Updated: 7 February 2008

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith shakes hands with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at a press briefing at the State Department in Washington, DC. [AFP]

Australia's new Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has started his term with visits to Asia and the United States.

Mr Smith was appointed following the November 2007 federal election, when Kevin Rudd's labour opposition ended 11 years of conservative government led by John Howard.

In this edited excerpt from a wide-ranging interview with Lateline's Tony Jones, Mr Smith outlines what will distinguish Labor's foreign policy from that of the previous government.

STEPHEN SMITH: Well, the trip that I've just come back to home, come back to Australia from, was both New York, Washington and Tokyo, and it really touched upon the three fundamental basses of Labor's foreign policy approach.

Firstly, our enduring alliance with the United States. As I made it clear in Washington, we regard that as being indispensable to our defence, security and strategic arrangements. And I underlined that point publicly and privately in the United States.

Secondly...I made a point of going to New York to make the point that Australia very much sees its own engagement in the United Nations and the United Nations' engagement in the world as being much more of a priority than the previous government did. We believe in multilateralism. We want to make greater effort in the United Nations and see the United Nations play a more central role in the international community. And one of the particular points we are interested in is nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.

Thirdly, my trip to Japan, which followed on before Christmas going to Indonesia and East Timor with the Prime Minister, reflected the third pillar, or the third fundamental of our foreign policy approach, which is engagement in the Asia Pacific region. And again, that's an area where we believe the previous government was lacking. I wanted to make the point both by going to Indonesia and subsequently by going to East Timor and more recently to Japan that our engagement in the Asia Pacific is very important to us.

Japan has been in very many respects Australia's most consistent friend and supporter in the region for a long period of time. We have a very significant economic, security and strategic relationship and partnership with Japan, and Japan has been very supportive of Australia in regional forums and I made that point to the ministers I met in Japan, that we regard that as being very, very important to our role in the region.

TONY JONES: But I put it to you that very little of what you've just said would really seriously distinguish you from the previous government's foreign policy?

STEPHEN SMITH: Well, I'm not sure that's right... when it comes to Iraq we had a qualitatively different approach from the previous government. You'll recall that the previous government and others were at pains to say that if we withdrew our troops' combat forces from Iraq, which we've announced and which I advised the United States administration of that the alliance would fall asunder, that's proven to be a nonsense which it always was.

The alliance is enduring. It transcends governments in Australia or administrations in the United States. The important thing is to make decisions that we regard as being in our own national interest and that's what we've done so far as our Iraq decision was concerned. But we've done it in a way which will minimise disruption. We've done it in consultation not just with the United States but also with the United Kingdom.

TONY JONES: Does Australia still believe in and does it still support a general doctrine of pre-emption in world affairs?

STEPHEN SMITH: Well, our starting point as I indicate to you in terms of the international community is we'd like to see a much greater and prominent role for the United Nations. We see multilateralism and co-operation in the global community as being our starting point, and we'd encourage that of the United States as we would encourage that of ourselves.

TONY JONES: Just on this doctrine of pre-emption, you'll recall there was a huge debate on this immediately after September 11 and prior to the war in Iraq which is based on the doctrine of pre-emption, is the doctrine of pre-emption now rejected by the Australian Government?

STEPHEN SMITH: Well, it's not our starting point... Our starting point is one of co-operation, one of seeking to resolve differences or difficulties either on a bilateral basis with another country where we might have a difference as we do, for example, with Japan on whaling. But also in the regional context and also the multilateral context, whereas I say our starting point is the United Nations. It's not the only multilateral forum or the only place where things can be discussed but we do see a need for the United Nations to return centre stage to international and global affairs.

Stephen Smith is Australia's foreign minister. A full transcript of Tony Jones' interview with Stephen Smith is available at ABC Lateline