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| Image: U.S. Department of State via Flickr |
By Michael Sheldrick and Akram Azimi
The prime minister’s foreign policy approach has evolved markedly over the past year. But is it meaningful?
He has only been in office for just over 12 months yet Tony Abbott has already completed more than 12 overseas trips as prime minister. Abbott’s transformation from the stay-at-home Opposition leader into a head of government increasingly comfortable strutting the world stage has been something of a revelation. This time last year, the man well known for his biting parochial sloganeering would hardly have attracted the title of “globalist,” from either his supporters or detractors.
In opposition, Abbott was brutal in savaging both Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard for their international trips. He scorned Rudd with the epitaph “Kevin 747” and derided Gillard for “swanning” around in New York “talking to Africans.” Even on the eve of his election victory, with the keys to The Lodge dangling within reach, Abbott was dismissive of Australia’s capacity to influence world events. Asked if Australia should support American airstrikes in Syria, Abbott retorted: “I don’t think we should be getting ideas above our station.”
This remarkably modest attitude to foreign policy as Opposition leader came at a time of Australia’s growing role on the world stage, from assuming the chairmanship of the G20 to earning a seat on the UN Security Council. As Nick Bryant, former BBC correspondent to Australia, reflects in his recent book, The Rise and Fall of Australia, Abbott’s conduct in opposition gave the impression he was “competing to become the mayor of a medium size city rather than contesting the leadership of an ever more thrusting and consequential nation.”
And so, on the one-year anniversary of the Abbott Government, it must come as a surprise to many to realize that Abbott had rivaled Rudd’s globetrotting forays. Of course, such air miles are in large part due to the fact that Abbott has had to respond to more international crises than other prime ministers might in their first term – let alone their first year. Nevertheless, putting aside the volume of his travel, there has been a very marked shift in Abbott’s, and the government’s, rhetoric regarding Australia’s responsibility and capability to not only advance its own interests but also those of the wider international community. This was evident in his handling of the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 and in his recent robust response to the rise of the Islamic State in the Middle East. Julie Bishop herself seemed to acknowledge this change when she declared last month, in direct contrast to Abbott’s once overly modest outlook, that Australia has found a “new station.”
Read the full story at The Diplomat