23rd September 2013
Deputy National Security Adviser visits Canberra as new government settle in
It was a great week to take the pulse of Canberra, as Tony Abbot’s new Administration moved into office. Britain’s Deputy National Security Adviser, Hugh Powell, called on members of the PM’s staff and met senior officials across the spectrum of foreign and security policy last week. They told him they looked forward to working even more closely with the UK.
Already the new Administration’s key foreign policy priorities are emerging. They will tend to have a greater focus on bilateral relations, on Australia’s regional neighbourhood, and on commercial diplomacy including the completion of several Free Trade Agreements currently under negotiation.
A new White Paper on Defence will be published. The election commitment to “stop the boats” will be given effect through Operation Sovereign Borders, under newly promoted 3-star General Angus Campbell.
There have been a number of machinery of government changes and the departure of several departmental Secretaries. AUSAID, the overseas development agency, is being merged into DFAT. Some of the details have yet to emerge, so it’s a time of uncertainty for some Canberra-based civil servants.
Meanwhile the busy international agenda means that new Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is off to New York to attend the UN General Assembly.
She will be particularly busy as Australia is currently chair of the UN Security Council, which is dealing with very difficult issues like Syria. I caught up with her before she set off and she told me she was looking forward to seeing William Hague there, and supporting the campaign on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict (PSVI), which he has spearheaded.