Foreign and Defence Policy on Australia's Political Agenda, 1962–2012

Abstract

This paper explores the content of the Australian foreign and defence policy agenda over the past 50 years, finding evidence of both continuity and change. Australian political leaders have generally committed to cooperation with international institutions, wealth creation through engagement with Asian economies in particular, and security through the American alliance. In this period, changes in foreign policy approach either concerned marginal issues or were driven significantly by exogenous factors: by changes in the international environment or by global events that propelled a reconsideration of Australian foreign and defence policy interests. However, periods of policy change and significant public attention in – particular around the Vietnam and Iraq wars – illustrate the continued relevance of political choices and agency. Both conflicts and debates around them ushered in changing foreign and defence policy considerations, and both raised fundamental questions about Australian security and independence in the context of the American alliance.

Representations of refugees and asylum seekers during the 2013 federal election

“…This representation is best encapsulated by the application of the Copenhagen School’s theory of securitization by McDonald (2005, 2011). Securitization refers to the process where ‘particular issues come to be conceived and approached as existential threats to particular political communities’ (McDonald, 2013: 282). Asylum seekers have been designated a ‘threat’, through the speech of the dominant actors, primarily politicians, resulting in actions and policy positions, such as mandatory detention, being viewed as valid and reasonable (Lueck et al, 2015; McDonald, 2013; McKay et al, 2017).…”

Australian Public Policy: Attention, Content and Style

“…Similarly with regard to foreign policy Matt McDonald () sees no partisan shifts as such. Here agenda change is almost entirely dependent upon external events.…”

Confidence in Defence and Foreign Policy

“…Yet, in the face of all this turmoil, the available survey evidence suggests that around 1950, opinion was overwhelmingly in favour of a treaty with the U.S. 2 The confidence shown by the public in the leadership of the Menzies government with regard to its negotiation of the security treaty with the U.S. can be partly attributed to the prime minister's personal reluctance to embrace this new, post-Commonwealth identity. As McDonald (2013) notes, the irony of Australia's shift towards away from the UK-in both a military and economic sense-and towards the U.S. is that it occurred under the leadership of a self-professed anglophile. Menzies' reluctance to embrace a new, U.S.-centric security future was founded in his personal disinclination to move away from Australia's British roots, a sentiment that found resonance among the public.…”