Issues in Australian Foreign Policy. July to December 2004

Perspectives on Australian foreign policy, 2005

“…Tragedy struck as hundreds of thousands died in the tsunami in Southeast and South Asia in December 2004. Australians demonstrated their compassion in the following months for those devastated by donating over $200 million, and Perspectives on Australian foreign policy, 2005 241 the government itself committed $1 billion to assist in the recovery.…”

“…For a number of years now foreign policy reviews in Australia have reverberated with the primacy of alliance relations (McDonald 2005;O'Connor 2004;Conley 2005). Once again the centrality of the US in the floor plan of relations in foreign policy remained in place, yet it was the overlay of intensified relations with China that was remarkable in 2005.…”

End of an Era? Anti‐Americanism in the Australian Labor Party

“…In one sense it did; the "deputy sheriff" label stuck and tarnished Australia's image in the region 72 while the dubious honour of being part of the increasingly discredited "coalition of the willing" may have done something similar globally. More importantly (but less certainly) arguably America's "aura of invincibility" has been severely dented which, considering it is Australia's major ally, cannot be in Australia's interests; and finally, US behaviour post-9/11 may well have undermined efforts to strengthen the rules-based international system.…”

“…82 But the damage was done and Labor consistently trailed the Coalition in polling regarding competence on national security issues. 83 On 18 January 2005, just two months after Labor's electoral failure, Latham retired from politics -but he haunted Labor for the remainder of the year.…”

The Responsibility to Responsibilize: Foreign Offices and the Issuing of Travel Warnings

“…Finally, it could be argued that governments issue travel warnings because they fear being sued for negligence or because failure to warn might result in political costs to those in power, especially if a large number of citizens are harmed overseas (see Conley 2005:258–9; Stephens 2006) But this actually signifies that travel warning is something the public expects from the government (that is, it is a governmental responsibility—moral, political, or legal). By the same token, governments’ fear of the consequences of failing to warn suggests they believe that the public expects them to warn.…”