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The Blue Ribbon Panel

The Blue Ribbon Panel. Established July 2008 to review the state of Australia’s instruments of international policy First public report on Australia’s overseas network in over 20 years. The Blue Ribbon Panel. Jillian Broadbent AO Professor William Maley AM Brad Orgill. Professor

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The Blue Ribbon Panel

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  1. The Blue Ribbon Panel • Established July 2008 to review the state of Australia’s instruments of international policy • First public report on Australia’s overseas network in over 20 years

  2. The Blue Ribbon Panel Jillian Broadbent AO Professor William Maley AM Brad Orgill Professor Peter Shergold AC Ric Smith AO PSM Allan Gyngell (Chair)

  3. How the panel functioned • Met formally four times, with regular communications from August 2008 to March 2009 • Meeting and correspondence with DFAT (root and branch review, consular and public diplomacy, trade) • Communications with other government departments and agencies • Formal information requests from review countries (UK, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Netherlands)

  4. Part 1 – shaping a changing world • Globalisation • Information revolution • Wicked problems • Shifting centre of world economic power • Increasing number of non-state actors

  5. Part 2 - Instruments of international policy • Australia’s overseas network • Consular services • Public diplomacy tools • Trade and investment promotion agencies • Australia’s overseas aid program • International policy bureaucracy • Defence, intelligence and law enforcement cooperation • Companies, NGOs and think-tanks

  6. Australia’s international engagement • 13th most globalised nation (Foreign Policy’s Globalization Index 2007) • 15th largest economy • $A the 6th most traded currency • 1 in 5 jobs depend on exports • 12th largest defence budget • 13th largest aid budget • 1 million Australians live overseas • 1 in 4 Australians was born overseas

  7. Resourcing - staff • 25% drop in DFAT overseas staff 1996-2008 • 15% fewer DFAT total staff overall • AFP up 151 per cent • ASIO up 139 per cent • ONA up 75 per cent • DFA in 1986: 780 overseas staff DFAT in 2008: (combined department) 517 overseas staff: 1/3 fewer

  8. Consular services 6 million Australian residents travelled overseas 2007-8 9.6 million hold passports 1 million live overseas • Consular assistance cases 57,706 (1997-8) ↓ 184,992 (2007-8) • Travel advisories 122 – 80 destinations (1998-9) ↓ 1,165 – 165 destinations (2007-8)

  9. Funding for consular and passports • 19% departmental expenditure (+/- 1% since 1998-9) • Passports and consular combined in departmental reporting: masks inadequate consular funding • Passports funding formula

  10. Public diplomacy Definition: • diplomacy directed at publics, rather than governments of foreign countries • to shape opinion of key target audiences in ways that further policy objectives “… the ability to shape proactively the global agenda and operating environment in ways favourable to the United States’ enduring interests and objectives .. requires coherent and persuasive public diplomacy backed by sufficient resources and shaped by a long-term vision of the nation’s strategic interest…” Advisory Committee on Transformational Diplomacy, State Department in 2025 Working Group

  11. International policy machinery • Amalgamation of DFA and Trade • National Security Committee (1996) • PM&C expanded role and size • 30 international division staff in 1997-98 • 80 staff covering similar issues in 2007-08 • IDCs • Informal policy networks • National security adviser (PM&C) • National intelligence coordination commitee

  12. DFAT vs other agencies overseas A-based staff overseas (excluding Defence): • DFA (not incl. Trade) in 1986: 780 • Non-DFA in 1986: 438 • DFAT in 2008: 517 • Non-DFAT in 2008: 572 • fewer DFAT staff now than DFA alone in 1986

  13. Non-government actors • 61,000 multinational corporations • 5,000 think tanks internationally • NGOs • Private philanthropists • challenge: successfully leveraging non-state actors to work towards similar objectives

  14. Reinvesting in the overseas network • 75 new A-based staff to redress overstretching - now • 20 new properly staffed missions – next ten years • 40% overseas staff goal

  15. Diplomats for the 21st century • investment in skills • incentivise leadership, initiative, transparency, results

  16. Consular services • Separate head, budget • Boost consular staff pool • Education (public and media) • Reciprocal obligations

  17. Public diplomacy • Senior strategic communications coordinator (whole-of-government) • Review guidelines on contact with media • New media techniques • Targeted cultural diplomacy

  18. Economic diplomacy • Partner with private sector • Plan to grow markets and boost exports • Marketing Australia – students, skilled migrants, tourists

  19. Aid • Adapt for GFC impact • International policy aims • Badging • Engagement with civil society

  20. Outreach • Build domestic constituency • Policy task groups • New media

  21. International policy machinery • Coordination and integration across agencies • Goals and priorities – measurability • Include regular review of language and other diplomacy skills

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