Australia´s commitment to foreign policy, its engagement with Africa and the bilateral relationship between Australia and South Africa.

8 October 2010

Ann Harrap, Australian High Commissioner to South Africa and Professor Tyrone Pretorius, Pro Vice Chancellor and President

Ann Harrap, Australian High Commissioner to South Africa and Associate Prof Dina Burger, Pro Vice-Chancellor Research

A summary of Remarks by Ann Harrap, Australian High Commissioner to South Africa, at a Public Lecture, held on 6 October 2010, at the Monash South Africa campus in Johannesburg, South Africa

During her presentation at a Public Lecture held on the Monash South Africa campus on 6 October 2010, Australian High Commissioner to South Africa, Ann Harrap focused mainly on Australia’s commitment to foreign policy, its engagement with Africa and the bilateral relationship between Australia and South Africa.

Summary of the talk:

While there have been some suggestions that the new political dispensation in Australia will result in significant changes in Australia’s foreign policy approaches, including in Africa, I don’t think that is the case – I believe Australia’s activist foreign policy will continue and our enhanced engagement strategy with Africa will remain on track.

The recent election  resulted in a very close poll with the Liberal/National party coalition winning 73 seats and the Labour party 72 seats out of 150 constituencies (or seats) which make up the lower house, or the House of Representatives. One seat went to the Greens party, and four seats were held by independents. 

Australia found itself with a hung parliament for the first time in over 70 years. The Labour party entered into an agreement with the Greens as well as with three of the independents and formed a government with 76 members of parliament.

Some commentators in Australia have argued that the Prime Minister will be domestically preoccupied and consumed with maintaining the numbers in the house and will therefore not be a major player on the international stage and there may be an end to Australian activism and leadership in foreign policy.  I doubt this will be the case.

Foreign Policy commitment

First, because Australia’s national economic, social and strategic interests dictate that we be outward-looking and focused on external engagement. 

To prosper into the future, Australia needs to continue its great trading tradition as well as guarantee a safe and secure strategic environment.  This is one of the major reasons why we need to be growing our engagement with Africa.

Second, the world is currently facing unprecedented global challenges that cannot be solved by one country acting alone.  There needs to be significantly increased international cooperation if we are to effectively address issues like climate change, nuclear proliferation, economic crises and transnational threats.  Australia, which is directly impacted by many of these issues, cannot sit back and wait for decisions regarding our future to be made by others – we need to be a player in the process.

Third – more and more Australians are living and travelling overseas.  A major plank of our foreign policy is to work to ensure the welfare of Australians overseas, including through effective consular and passport services.  With such a large Australian diaspora, the government can ill-afford to withdraw from serious international engagement.

And finally – foreign minister Kevin Rudd, former diplomat and former Prime Minister of the country, has credibility and international standing.  He has considerable experience, high-level connections and a fundamental understanding of Australia’s role in the world.  Just two days after being sworn in, Mr Rudd flew to Washington via Pakistan.  In the US he met with President Obama and the Secretary of State among others.  The fact that one of his first official visits was to the US, sent a strong signal about the centrality of the US alliance to Australia’s national security.  Mr Rudd as foreign minister is not about to sit back and preside over a diminution in Australia’s foreign policy activism.

The Prime Minister has already travelled to Brussels for the Asia-Europe meeting and has signaled her intention to travel to Vietnam at the end of the month to attend the East Asia Summit and the inaugural ASEAN-Australia Leaders summit.  She will also attend both the G20 Leaders and APEC Leaders meetings in mid-November.  This is not the approach of a risk averse, ‘do-nothing-on foreign policy’ leader.

Engagement with Africa

It is my view that the Australian Government’s commitment to broaden and deepen Australia’s engagement with Africa will not waver.

This commitment began nearly three years ago and was designed to address a significant period of government neglect where Australia had only looked East instead of West as well.  Since the change of focus there has been considerable progress particularly at the political level.

In 2007 Australia had diplomatic relations with 41 countries in Africa – we now have relations with 51 of the 53.  We have expanded our diplomatic and trade presence on the ground to better support Australian interests.

In May of this year the former foreign minister announced that Australia would open a new Embassy in Addis Ababa in recognition of the African Union’s vital role and growing global influence.  Our Ambassador is now in-country and the Embassy should be formally opened within the next few months.  It will work to advance Australia’s growing diplomatic, security and developmental relationship with the African Union.

In March 2009 the Australian Governor-General visited 10 African countries – the first Australian head of state to do so in over 30 years and in the last two years, six African foreign ministers have visited Australia – that’s more than in the last 10 years combined.  Earlier this year the Australian foreign minister and then separately the trade minister made bilateral visits to South Africa – these visits were long overdue.  And the Australian government now has regular presence at the African Union summits in Addis Ababa.

One of our key goals in the next year is to see more African heads of state and foreign ministers visit Australia – as part of our efforts to grow the political connections between the two continents. 

Similarly I see the growth of the trade and investment partnership between Australia and Africa as an important part of Australia’s long term agenda.  As I said earlier, to prosper into the future, Australia needs to be an externally focused trading nation and cannot ignore a continent of more than 50 countries and nearly a billion people.

Trade and investment has certainly been one of the key drivers of Australia’s engagement with Africa.  Our merchandise trade with the continent has grown at more than 6 percent annually over the past decade and now totals just under $6 billion.

The resources sector is obviously at the heart of our relationship.  Australian companies have an estimated $20 billion in current and prospective investments in Africa, with projects in over 40 countries.   In fact of the total number of global mining projects held by Australian companies, the majority are in Africa – over 40 percent.

Now again some have suggested that the Labour party’s new relationship with the Greens means that there will be much greater scrutiny of the Australian mining industry, including its overseas operations.   This may or may not be the case – but frankly I don’t think Australian companies would shy away from the greater scrutiny.

Australian companies operating in Africa enjoy a well-deserved reputation for integrity, safety, good mining practices and high environmental standards.  Their approaches to upskilling local workforces and delivering on their corporate social responsibilities have been widely commended by African governments.  In other words, there is a good story to tell and one which I’m sure Australian commercial interests will convey to the Greens.

Australia remains committed to helping Africa tackle its ongoing security and development challenges – and there has been good progress on this front over the last three years.

Australia is working through the United Nations Peace building Commission on its priority countries Burundi, Central African Republic, Guinea Bissau and Sierra Leone and we have agreed to contribute $6million over the next two years to peace building initiatives focusing on Burundi and Sierra Leone.  Australia is also assisting the African Union Peace and Security Commission to develop a comprehensive policy around the protection of civilians during peace support operations.

But of course security and development are inextricably linked.

Poverty remains one of the greatest challenges to global peace and security and unfortunately Africa remains the continent with the highest percentage of people living in absolute poverty with 33 out of the world’s 49 least developed countries.

Australia is committed to being a good international citizen and to supporting progress towards the Millenium Development Goals.   But we cannot pretend to be serious about tackling global poverty and achieving the MDGs if we ignore Africa.

This is why we have significantly increased our aid budget for Africa – Australian development assistance to the continent in 2010-11 will be in the order of $200 million targeting more than 30 countries through our bilateral assistance and another 10 through multilateral and regional support.

While there is unlikely to be any wavering in the Australian government’s commitment to increasing our total global aid budget to .5% of GNI by 2015 – it will be necessary to demonstrate the effectiveness of that aid as we scale up the programme to Africa towards an estimated $500 million by 2015.

The government will need to demonstrate that our focus on priority areas – such as water and sanitation, food security, child and maternal health, and helping to build Africa’s human resource capacity – including through a sizable scholarships programme – is making a difference.  And it will need to continue to make the case – over above an altruistic imperative – that positive African development is vital for Australia’s economic and security interests. 

Because there is some political policy contestation on this question in Australia – not on the broader point about the need for, and size of, the aid programme – but rather on where it is directed and its effectiveness.

The other area where there is policy contestation and where some commentators have suggested the government will have to compromise on its approach is on multilateral issues.  One of the three pillars underpinning the government’s approach to foreign policy to date has been our membership of the United Nations.  The Labour government has been determined over the last two and a half years to revitalise Australia’s engagement with the United Nations and to help strengthen the multilateral system’s capacity to solve global problems.  One element of that has been Australia’s candidacy for a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council in 2013-14.

This renewed focus on multilateralism has been particularly important in the context of our relationships with African nations.  African countries comprise more than a quarter of the membership of the WTO, the UN and the Commonwealth.   Australia has recognised that there is little prospect of making progress on the MDGs, trade liberalisation, disarmament, climate change, food security, transnational crime, international terrorism and UN reform without working closely with the continent of Africa, the countries of Africa and the African Union.

But there are certainly some in the Australian system who do not share that view.  It would be fair to say that there are some multilateral and United Nations skeptics sitting in the Australian parliament.

Now it is possible that, given the tight balance of power in the parliament, the Australian government might seek to water down this internationalist approach – but it is not probable.

In his speech to the United Nations General Assembly just last week, Foreign Minister Rudd reminded the audience that Australia was a founding member of the United Nations, and had been active in the institution for the last 65 years. 

He noted Australia’s intimate engagement in all the funds, programmes and specialised agencies of the United Nations.  He particularly highlighted that Australia is the 12th largest source of funding for the UN budget and that, unlike many others, we always pay in full and on time.

But most importantly he said:
“Australia wants to be part of the solution to the many challenges which the international community now faces — not just point to the problems. Australia believes in the power of creative ideas and active diplomacy to solve long-standing international problems. Australia values good international citizenship. It is for these reasons that Australia has been committed to the United Nations since the beginning….
And he concluded by noting that it was imperative that all nations, including Australia, “recommit to the United Nations as a decisive instrument to create a better future for all of us”.
I have sought to demonstrate my view that despite a new political dynamic in Australia, our activist and forward-looking approach to foreign policy will continue – and in particular our commitment to growing our relationships with the continent and constituent countries of Africa will remain.  While the government may be forced to make compromises on domestic issues I see little prospect of significant policy shifts on international affairs.

Australia-South Africa

If that’s the case, what does it mean for the Australia-South Africa bilateral relationship?

On the commercial front it would be short-sighted in the extreme for Australia to forget that South Africa remains by far the biggest and most advanced economy in sub-Saharan Africa, accounting for about 27% of the region’s GDP.  It has the world’s largest platinum reserves and is a significant player in the mining sector.  According to Citibank, the estimated value of mineral deposits still in the ground in South Africa is valued at USD2.5 trillion (surpassing the next closest – Australia and Russia – by USD1 trillion). 
 
South Africa has a stable and efficient tax system and financial regulatory environment.  Property rights are sound, there is good corporate governance, and transport and communications infrastructure, despite constraints, is of a high standard.  It is also growing economically and has an active consumer base. 

Australian commercial interests need to capitalise on that.  Our two-way trade, worth about $2.4bn took a hit during the global economic downturn – largely because of the impact on the car market, which is South Africa’s biggest export to Australia.  We need to focus again on turning that around.  The Australian government will certainly be playing our part – this week we have worked to ensure the participation of a large number of Australian mining services companies at the Mining Elektra conference in Johannesburg – a key opportunity to build business partnerships.

We will continue to promote South Africa as a gateway into sub-Saharan Africa.  According to the Gordon Institute of Business, no other country with similar GDP per capita levels has spawned as many global businesses as South Africa and they are doing particularly well regionally, with over 1,000 companies operating on the continent.  There is more foreign direct investment into Africa from South Africa than from China.  This obviously presents both competition and opportunity for Australian businesses.

We will also continue our efforts to boost two-way investment.  Australian investment in South Africa is worth about $1.2bn and South African investment in Australia is worth slightly more.  Mining is the obvious focus but retail and education services are also areas for growth.  We will continue to remind the South African government that while the focus of their political and economic diplomacy effort is quite legitimately directed at the emerging market economies of China, India and Brazil – Australia should not be forgotten. 

We were the only advanced economy to avoid the recession and we will show one of the highest rates of growth of any OECD country this year. Our unemployment and inflation rates are low, our financial systems are sound and the language of business is English – and just as South Africa is a gateway into the rest of Africa, Australia can be a gateway into Asia – one of the fastest growing economic regions in the world.

At the political level, we will continue to emphasise the practical value of a cooperative partnership.

When he was in New York last week Foreign Minister Rudd met with his South African counterpart and together they signed a bilateral Memorandum of Cooperation between our two countries which lays the basis for increased political level contact, including through the holding of annual Foreign Minister talks. It highlights the importance of Australia and South Africa working together in multilateral forums on global issues.

It also notes Australia’s ongoing commitment to work with South Africa to address the country’s chronic skills shortages, including through continuation of our long and short-term scholarships programme. 

And it reiterates our collective commitment to work cooperatively together on the continent to address some of the key peace and conflict issues.  Already Australia and South Africa are combining our skills and funds to help make a difference in Zimbabwe in the areas of tax reform and water and sanitation.