Speech:
28 August 2009, Melbourne
Taking on the World: Grasping Opportunities on the International Stage
Introduction
Thank you for your kind introduction.
I am delighted to join you here today to discuss the many opportunities available to you should you choose a career in the international arena (like mission impossible).
The Victorian Branch of the Australian Institute of International Affairs makes an important contribution to the broad public discourse in Australia about international relations.
This international careers conference is an excellent event and I thank the AIIA for inviting me to speak today.
Adventuring Australians
More than ever before, Australia’s are engaging with the world, be it through travel or work.
Thanks to our first rate education system, many of our skills are in demand worldwide and many Australians have and are working overseas.
Traditionally Australians worked in the UK and the US, but in recent times Australians have been working all over the world, in such diverse fields as engineering in the Middle East, right through to teaching English in China.
The Australian Diaspora is substantial – at any one time it is estimated that there are about one million Australian’s living and working overseas.
It is important to note that Australia and Australians are highly regarded overseas.
Research on international perceptions of Australia consistently shows that we enjoy a very good reputation and that this perception is global.
According to the internationally recognised Anholt Nation Brands Index, Australia has consistently ranked in the top 10 nations.
A separate measuring stick of our relative international prosperity - the 2008 Legatum Prosperity Index - ranked Australia first overall, whilst also ranking us 10th on Comparative Liveability Index and 6th on Economic Competitiveness Index.
We are seen as a friendly, welcoming people, living in a country rich in natural beauty, with an advanced economy, a fair and competent system of government, and a diverse multicultural society.
We rank highly as a place where people want to live and work. In the main we are also seen as a country that respects our citizens’ rights and behaves responsibly in the international arena.
These perceptions are forged, in no small part, by the contact people have with Australians overseas, and the work we do abroad to promote our assets. Australians in business, in government agencies, NGO’s and tourists - they are our Ambassadors.
Many Australians have a strong outward orientation and this is reflected in the breadth and depth of our participation on the world stage.
Many Australians however would not be aware of our proud tradition of multilateral engagement.
We are a founding member of the United Nations and we are the 13th largest contributor to its budget.
Former Labor Minister of External Affairs Herbert Evatt participated in the Australian delegation to the meeting that founded the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945.
Evatt played an important role in framing the United Nations Charter and he remains the only Australian ever to have been elected President of the General Assembly.
It was during Evatt's UN presidency that the General Assembly adopted and proclaimed the cornerstone of modern human rights protection, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Since then, Australia has worked consistently on global issues, ranging from promoting human rights, fostering global peace and security, driving global trade liberalisation and protecting the environment.
For example, we strongly supported the Cambodian Peace Process in the late 1980s and early 1990s and our support still resonates positively with Cambodia and its citizens.
Apart from his influential work helping to develop the UN peace plan for Cambodia, one of Australia's longest serving Foreign Ministers, Gareth Evans, played a vital role in assisting to bring a conclusion to the international Chemical Weapons Convention, initiating the Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, and founding the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.
Australians have played, and are continuing to play, an important role as champions of free and open trade.
Our Government continues to do all we can to bring about a successful conclusion to the World Trade Organization’s Doha Round of trade liberalization.
We know that trade creates jobs, it raises living standards and it will drive the recovery from the current global economic downturn.
A recent study by the Centre for International Economics showed one in five jobs – that’s 2.5 million Australians – are employed because of imports or exports. One in seven jobs from exports alone.
The same study showed trade liberalisation has boosted Australia’s GDP over the last two decades by 2.5 per cent.
And as you would have observed, the Prime Minister has ensured that Australia has played a significant role in the G20, as it works to bring the global economy back from its most serious deterioration since the great depression and set it on a credible path back to sustainable growth.
Prime Minister Rudd played a key role in helping to shape the agenda and push for meaningful outcomes at the most G20 meeting in Italy and at the vital post G.F.C. meeting in London earlier this year.
Our effectiveness in forums such as the G20 is underpinned by the quality of our diplomatic corps. In that light, those of you who pursue a diplomatic career path will play a crucial in enabling Australian to make a positive and real difference on the international stage.
Whilst we have a comparatively small population of 22 million, relative to our size Australia has a disproportionately large influence in the international policy debate. We rightly project ourselves as a middle power.
Through Australia’s network of 89 overseas diplomatic missions, we have representation stretching from New York to Nairobi, and Brussels to Bangkok. Each and every one of these missions plays a crucial role in enhancing out international engagement.
Our Government is also putting considerable effort into getting global agreement to combat climate change.
Climate change is one of the greatest social, economic and environmental challenges of our time.
As you know, our Government’s first act on taking office was to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. And we are committed to ensuring Australia meets its responsibilities in facing this global challenge.
This includes reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Australia, and working with the international community to develop a global response that is effective and fair and preparing for the inevitable impacts of climate change.
But, as I said, the perception of Australia abroad is not just shaped by the actions of Government.
It is shaped by Australians living and working on the ground overseas - including young Australians such as you.
This is a particularly interesting time to be a young Australian working abroad.
Times are tougher than they have been, but even with the global financial crisis, Australia is fortunate to lie in one of the most economically dynamic regions of the world.
That offers young students, such as you, enormous opportunities.
We have nineteen holiday makers’ programs – as well as additional arrangements with Chile, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Turkey and the United States.
These arrangements encourage cultural exchange and closer ties between Australia and other countries by enabling young people to have an extended holiday, supplemented by short-term employment.
Australia and the global economy
I want to talk about a bit more about Australia and our place in the world, because of the transformation of our economy that occurred, to provide a backdrop to our discussion today.
There is no question that Australia is now a global economy.
We made that decision back in the 1980s when we undertook major, economy-wide structural reforms that charted a new course for the country.
We internationalised and modernised our economy, by floating the exchange rate and relaxing capital controls.
We established a compulsory superannuation system that has produced one of the most sophisticated financial sectors in the world.
Importantly, we re-orientated our trade and diplomatic focus towards Asia.
In short, we opened up our economy to the world and boosted productivity to position Australia to take advantage of the growth in Asia we have seen over the last 20 years.
There can be no doubt that these decisions have helped underwrite our prosperity.
Nearly a quarter of Australia’s GDP is attributable to the export of goods and services.
But we need to ensure that our efforts continue.
The Government is working through key regional organisations, such as APEC, the East Asia Summit and ASEAN, on a broad agenda that will ensure that our region continues to grow and prosper.
The soon to commence ASEAN-Australia-NZ Free Trade Agreement is the largest FTA Australia has ever signed and will reduce or eliminate tariffs across a region that is home to 600 million people and has an annual GDP of A$3.2 trillion.
Australia’s two-way trade with the ASEAN region is worth $80 billion a year. The agreement will deliver new opportunities across the board for Australian exporters.
We are also talking in our region about a regional forum that could discuss security, economic and political issues.
Prime Minister Rudd has announced Australia will convene a conference of prominent government officials, academics and opinion-makers to continue the discussion on the form an Asia Pacific community should take. This conference is planned for December.
But we also need to continually develop the tools and skills to further our interests.
Among the skills required are language skills.
Prime Minister Rudd made clear last year that our Government’s aim is for Australia to become the most Asia-literate nation, in the west.
To this end our Government has committed $62 million to boost the study of Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Indonesian.1
We want to double the number of students studying one of these four target languages in the final years of high school by 2020.
Of course, it’s important to also stay invested in the study of Eurozone languages – the mastery of any language is a gift that opens doors and enhances understanding.
At the heart of this is our government’s commitment to investing in high-quality education that will provide the skills that ensure young people such as you can continue to make a substantial contribution, both here in Australia and abroad.
About a third of the Government’s economic stimulus investments are focused on schools, TAFEs, universities and research institutions.
It is also behind the Government’s productivity agenda which aims to create the best-educated, best-skilled, best-trained workforce in the world.
Challenges ahead
Australia, along with the rest of the world, is facing a number of difficult challenges, even though it is clear that Australia has fared better than many other countries in the global downturn.
These challenges translate into opportunities for you.
We need bright, well-trained graduates, such as engineers, economists, mathematicians and accountants, to help work on the recovery and fallout of the global financial crisis.
We need dedicated social scientists and development experts and educators to tackle poverty-reduction, in our region and beyond.
As an example, it is deeply disturbing that about 2.7 million people in the Pacific region are living in poverty and do not have the income to satisfy their basic human needs2.
About 400,000 children in the region are not enrolled in primary school, about 64 out of every 1000 children die before the aged of five.
Pacific women continue to suffer extremely high rates of maternal mortality.
We need emerging scientists, agricultural experts and researchers to focus on climate change issues, both prevention and adaptation.
My colleague, the Minister for Climate Change and Water, Penny Wong, noted in a speech recently that by the end of this century, climate change could see irrigated agricultural production in Australia's food bowl, the Murray Darling Basin, drop by more than 90 per cent.
By mid-century, heat-related deaths in Australia could increase by 5000 a year.
Beyond our shores, by mid century, rising sea levels will directly affect and potentially displace over a million people in Bangladesh, the Mekong delta in Vietnam and further a-field in the Nile delta, to say nothing of the impact on our neighbours in the Pacific.
Also we need language experts, international relations experts and all range of talented people, both inside and outside government, to help broaden and deepen our relationships, including with China and India.
It is clear that the rise of China and India will have implications, not just for Australia, but globally.
We need to focus on growing our links, both including and beyond our trade and economic ties.
Many Chinese and Indian students have chosen to study here in Australia and, in doing so, have forged many people-to-people and professional links between our countries.
Of the approximately 547,000 international students enrolled to study in Australia in July 2009, Chinese students accounted for 24.2% or 132, 346 of this total.
Significantly, the next largest group came from India, who made up 19.2% or 105,215.
These international students provide firm foundations on which to build closer and deeper relations.
Conclusion
There are tremendous opportunities available to young Australians to forge international careers – many more than I’ve briefly touched on here.
I know you are going to enjoy presentations by today’s other speakers as they give you the details of opportunities in their areas – including Government. One particular area of interest of mine is national security.
I want to assure you that our Government is working to enhance and expand these opportunities, and to do what we can to help Australians travel abroad safety.
I want to underline that in whatever role you engage with the world, you are all Ambassadors for our country.
Our own Prime Minister has demonstrated an acutely keen interest in the global engagement since his early days as a diplomat. And it is clear that engagement is vitally important to Australia’s and the world’s prosperity.
So regardless of in which capacity you pursue an international career, I urge you to always continue Australia’s tradition of trying to make a real, positive difference to the world.
To see the world and our country not just as it is, but what it could and can be.
Thank you.