122 DAYS to Engage with the Coalition, If You Comments Create a Misconception to 2013 Haven’T Already – We Can Help with This

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

122 DAYS to Engage with the Coalition, If You Comments Create a Misconception to 2013 Haven’T Already – We Can Help with This THE POLICY UPDATE 1 | M a y 2013 CLIMATE GAMIFICATION …by CEO, Benjamin Haslem THE POLICY UPDATE The Climate Reality Project, founded and Members get bonus points when Earlier this year we released our first chaired by former US Vice President Al someone responds to a pasted comment newsletter, The Shell, under our new Gore, has decided to take on their and clicks back to Reality Drop. brand – Wells Haslem Strategic Public opponents at their own game and have Supporters say Reality Drop uses Affairs. We intend to publish it at least established an intriguing digital project: competitive gaming techniques to twice a year. Reality Drop. combat climate denial online. Just to make sure that we bring you as Peruse most online articles about climate It could provide an interesting model for much news as possible about what we are change, where people are invited to leave political parties during election up to and what has piqued our interest, comments, and you would be excused for campaigns. All sides of politics accuse the we’ve decided to create The Shell Policy thinking a large number of people not other parties of flooding online Update… a smaller version of The Shell only dismiss the reality or threat of man- comments with information critical of published every few months. made climate change but seem to be their opponents. Here is the first edition. Feel free to quite knowledgeable about it. Of course, this begs the question, is provide feedback and some of your They sprout all sorts of facts and figures Reality Drop any different from the very information, anecdotes and ideas for the and present unsubstantiated claims to people it is criticising? It too is providing next edition of the Policy Update. undermine the theory that by burning supporters with ‘canned comments’, We have been busy on a range of projects, fossil fuels humans are warming the leaving itself open to charges of including those for Asia Society Australia, Earth’s climate at an alarming, dangerous hypocrisy. Boehringer Ingelheim, Church of and unsustainable rate. But then Reality Drop argues it has Scientology, Insurance Council of People pushing for measures to reduce science on its side. Australia, NRMA, Sonartech Atlas, and the effects of anthropogenic global Zurich Financial Services. warming (AGW) complain that online If you feel you need help with any issues comment streams are flooded with false relating to your brand recognition, information. Some even claim there is a communication with stakeholders or coordinated effort by energy companies issues management, please get in touch. and their allies to spread misinformation Don’t forget, a Federal Election is fast and confusion about climate science. approaching. It’s about time you started They argue these streams of canned 122 DAYS to engage with the Coalition, if you comments create a misconception TO 2013 haven’t already – we can help with this. amongst the broader public there is a FEDERAL ELECTION John Wells, Chairman large amount of disagreement amongst scientists about the reality of AGW, when in fact there is not. THE RISE OF SOCIAL MEDIA NEWSROOMS IN COMPANIES They also believe there are many people The concept of social media newsrooms has been around for at least five years now. It seemed reading online articles who support action an obvious development with the explosion of social media in recent years. People are to tackle climate change but are not increasingly accessing news and information through social media, to the extent where these equipped with the information to combat platforms are becoming critically important in terms of distribution as well as content claims made by alleged trolls. creation. In these circumstances, it made a lot of sense, or it seemed to, for major organisations to move onto social media platforms - and many have. The ideal of a social The Reality Drop project searches the newsroom however is integration; achieved by the incorporation of Facebook and Twitter day’s news articles online and seeks out feeds, and YouTube channels, into the traditional corporate media page (or newsroom). the most heated climate change Read more trevorcook.typepad.com/weblog/ Digital Counsel, Trevor Cook arguments. It then provides members with access to the “most accurate, relevant climate science” which people can then put into their own words and paste into comment streams. Members earn points for each paste. THE RUDDLESS COUP – WHAT WAS THAT ALL The Labor Party factions as we knew them in the days of Hawke and Keating are gone. The NSW Right, so well- ABOUT? …by Special Counsel, Julie Sibraa known historically for the making and breaking of Former NSW Premier Jack Lang once famously said leaders was completely split. So too the NSW Left. “always back the horse named self-interest…It'll be the There were no Party factional leaders working behind only one trying”. This adage has generally proved true in the scenes, talking to one another to ensure the Party politics until an extraordinary day on 21 March when the was not damaged as happened in the Hawke/Keating Labor Party caucus effectively voted themselves out of leadership contests in 1991. The diminishing influence of office. It would be frankly unbelievable to think the the factions has been happening over some time and caucus avoided a leadership change to Kevin Rudd while many will rejoice in their demise, the vacuum left because they believed Julia Gillard could lead them to by the absence of strong factional leadership allowed victory on September 14. Either they just couldn’t come the chaos of March 21 to happen. to terms with the idea of admitting they made a mistake and taking Kevin Rudd back or, fearful of a repeat of the While it’s become fashionable for political and economic bloodshed from the 2010 coup and associated commentators to compare the current Gillard/Swan recriminations, simply lacked the courage to do what government unfavourably with the halcyon economic had to be done. reform days of the Hawke/Keating government, little insight is given as to how it was all possible when so Apart from the conclusion above, it’s difficult to make many of the reforms were not exactly high on the Labor much sense of the events of that day which resulted in a platform’s must-do list in 1983. victory for the Prime Minister, the end of any chance of a Kevin Rudd return to the leadership, the sacking of The fact is, effective leadership, not just Hawke and respected Minister Simon Crean, the resignation of Keating’s, but strong, intelligent factional leadership lead by the likes of Graham Richardson and Robert Ray from several Ministers and MPs from their parliamentary positions and the Labor Party facing electoral oblivion the Right, Mick Young from the Centre Left and Bill Kelty following the September election. from the ACTU ensured the reforms DID YOU HEAR? could be delivered. These individuals With the polls as they were, a leadership The Tasmanian Government, and other senior leaders understood challenge that day was definitely on the cards. through Tasmanian Hydro, the necessity of economic reform and The eight-week parliamentary break before the wants to build 200 Wind Energy Budget meant it was time to put up or shut up. how to communicate to the wider Towers on King Island - taking public. More importantly, they knew up around 20% of the Island. But no-one could have foreseen how it would how to manage their own MPs and come about or end, starting with the Long-time ABC journalist ensure the Prime Minister carried the bizarre/crazy brave actions of senior Party Matt Peacock has been elected day. In the absence of the major statesman, Simon Crean. When he called his to represent staff on the Board ideological splits that have second press conference for that day, stated of the public Broadcaster… a historically defined what it meant to there should be a leadership spill; that he would position abolished nearly a decade ago. be from the ‘Right’ or ‘Left’ in the support Kevin Rudd and would be prepared to Australian Labor Party, the factions serve as Deputy Leader all without having Two State QLD MPs have already defected to the new have become loose groupings of actually spoken to Rudd in over 48 hours, the Clive Palmer led United convenience for individuals to political mind boggled. What was he thinking? Australia Party. progress their careers with no Simon Crean and Kevin Rudd are not what you’d Amendments made to the Fair obligations to a particular set of call mates if his vicious anti-Rudd rhetoric in the Work Act 2009 late last year policy beliefs. lead up to the 2012 leadership ballot was with respect to an employer’s Finally, the Prime Minister once again anything to go by. But Crean recognised that superannuation default fund demonstrated just how tough under Rudd had the best chance of winning the selection is set to cause pressure she is. Having to walk into election for Labor. On that basis he was willing disruption for more than 50,000 the House of Representatives shortly to put aside his personal feelings about Rudd Australian employers (including after sacking a senior Minister who and put the interests of the Australian Labor some of Australia’s largest had previously been one of her Party first. Something the majority of other companies) and will affect more trusted allies and announcing a Labor MPs refused to do. than one million members. leadership vote that very afternoon, And what about Rudd himself? He’s been to not only face her regular criticised for not running, for not putting his opponents in the Liberal/National name to a campaign he and his supporters had been Party for Question Time, but the ones in her own party running for months, but the fact is, he was never going to sitting behind her and say defiantly “Give it your best contest the leadership unless an overwhelming majority shot”, was a memorable moment.
Recommended publications
  • The Vultures Will Be Hovering Again Soon Enough, As Bill Shorten Begins to Stumble Date September 21, 2015 - 5:58AM
    The vultures will be hovering again soon enough, as Bill Shorten begins to stumble Date September 21, 2015 - 5:58AM Paul Sheehan Sydney Morning Herald columnist Disability deserves its own ministry: Shorten Opposition leader Bill Shorten says he is disappointed Malcolm Turnbull's new ministry does not feature a minister for disability. Courtesy ABC News 24. It is only natural that the vultures will grow hungry again soon. They have become accustomed to kings becoming carrion. In the past 20 years Paul Keating, Kim Beazley, Simon Crean, Mark Latham, Beazley again, John Howard, Brendan Nelson, Malcolm Turnbull, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Rudd again, and now Tony Abbott have all been felled, a procession of change, on average, every 20 months, for 20 years. It shows no sign of slowing. In this context, the Canning by-election could have been called the Cunning by- election. It gave a clear, vindicating victory for Malcolm Turnbull's brazen, lightning coup. So now the vultures will soon be hovering over the obvious loser, Bill Shorten, who made a serious blunder last week that puts him on carrion watch. Having hovered over Abbott for months, the vultures will be riding the political thermals and circling in the sky, watching for Shorten to falter. He just became much more vulnerable. He has never been popular in the opinion polls. He has rarely been impressive in parliament. He was especially unimpressive in the three sitting days leading up to the Canning by-election. On Tuesday, in his first question to the new Prime Minister, Shorten finished
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Heat Treatment This Is a List of Greenhouse Gas Emitting
    Heat treatment This is a list of greenhouse gas emitting companies and peak industry bodies and the firms they employ to lobby government. It is based on data from the federal and state lobbying registers.* Client Industry Lobby Company AGL Energy Oil and Gas Enhance Corporate Lobbyists registered with Enhance Lobbyist Background Limited Pty Ltd Corporate Pty Ltd* James (Jim) Peter Elder Former Labor Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development and Trade (Queensland) Kirsten Wishart - Michael Todd Former adviser to Queensland Premier Peter Beattie Mike Smith Policy adviser to the Queensland Minister for Natural Resources, Mines and Energy, LHMU industrial officer, state secretary to the NT Labor party. Nicholas James Park Former staffer to Federal Coalition MPs and Senators in the portfolios of: Energy and Resources, Land and Property Development, IT and Telecommunications, Gaming and Tourism. Samuel Sydney Doumany Former Queensland Liberal Attorney General and Minister for Justice Terence John Kempnich Former political adviser in the Queensland Labor and ACT Governments AGL Energy Oil and Gas Government Relations Lobbyists registered with Government Lobbyist Background Limited Australia advisory Pty Relations Australia advisory Pty Ltd* Ltd Damian Francis O’Connor Former assistant General Secretary within the NSW Australian Labor Party Elizabeth Waterland Ian Armstrong - Jacqueline Pace - * All lobbyists registered with individual firms do not necessarily work for all of that firm’s clients. Lobby lists are updated regularly. This
    [Show full text]
  • The Foreign Minister Who Never Was
    The foreign minister who never was BY:DENNIS SHANAHAN, POLITICAL EDITOR The Australian March 02, 2012 12:00AM Cartoon by Peter Nicholson. Source: The Australian JULIA Gillard's ability to turn good news - a brilliant political strategy, a poignant moment, or an opportunity to become strong, credible and assertive - into bad news and dumb politics appears to be boundless. And, when the Prime Minister has a brain snap, makes an error of judgment or gets into trouble for a reflexive and ill-considered denial the finger is pointed towards staff, speech writers, the hate media, Tony Abbott, or most of all, Kevin Rudd. The mistakes she's admitted are those where she neglected to publicly apportion blame to Rudd as a dysfunctional, pathological leader, and this being the reason for her taking over as prime minister in June 2010. On Monday morning, after three politically debilitating months of unforced errors, media disasters and a destabilising campaign to gather support for a Rudd leadership challenge, Gillard was finally in the clear. After a brilliant political strategy to force Rudd's hand early, at least two weeks before he was prepared to go, Gillard was able to crush him in the Labor caucus ballot 71 to 31 votes. Although there was a strong element of voting against Rudd rather than for Gillard in the ballot, it saw off Rudd's chances for this parliamentary term at least and gave Labor a chance to regather its thoughts and try to redeem a seemingly hopeless position. Gillard set out her intentions, addressing the public: "I can assure you that this political drama is over and now you are back at centre stage where you should properly be and you will be the focus of all of our efforts." On the issue of reshuffling her ministry and whether she would be punishing Rudd supporters, Gillard declared: "My focus will be on having a team based on merit and the ability to take the fight up on behalf of Labor to our conservative opponents.
    [Show full text]
  • Comparing the Dynamics of Party Leadership Survival in Britain and Australia: Brown, Rudd and Gillard
    This is a repository copy of Comparing the dynamics of party leadership survival in Britain and Australia: Brown, Rudd and Gillard. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/82697/ Version: Accepted Version Article: Heppell, T and Bennister, M (2015) Comparing the dynamics of party leadership survival in Britain and Australia: Brown, Rudd and Gillard. Government and Opposition, FirstV. 1 - 26. ISSN 1477-7053 https://doi.org/10.1017/gov.2014.31 Reuse Unless indicated otherwise, fulltext items are protected by copyright with all rights reserved. The copyright exception in section 29 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 allows the making of a single copy solely for the purpose of non-commercial research or private study within the limits of fair dealing. The publisher or other rights-holder may allow further reproduction and re-use of this version - refer to the White Rose Research Online record for this item. Where records identify the publisher as the copyright holder, users can verify any specific terms of use on the publisher’s website. Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ Comparing the Dynamics of Party Leadership Survival in Britain and Australia: Brown, Rudd and Gillard Abstract This article examines the interaction between the respective party structures of the Australian Labor Party and the British Labour Party as a means of assessing the strategic options facing aspiring challengers for the party leadership.
    [Show full text]
  • Trends in Australian Political Opinion Results from the Australian Election Study 1987– 2019
    Trends in Australian Political Opinion Results from the Australian Election Study 1987– 2019 Sarah Cameron & Ian McAllister School of Politics & International Relations ANU College of Arts & Social Sciences australianelectionstudy.org Trends in Australian Political Opinion Results from the Australian Election Study 1987– 2019 Sarah Cameron Ian McAllister December, 2019 Sarah Cameron School of Social and Political Sciences The University of Sydney E [email protected] Ian McAllister School of Politics and International Relations The Australian National University E [email protected] Contents Introduction 5 The election campaign 7 Voting and partisanship 17 Election issues 31 The economy 51 Politics and political parties 71 The left-right dimension 81 The political leaders 85 Democracy and institutions 97 Trade unions, business and wealth 107 Social issues 115 Defence and foreign affairs 129 References 143 Appendix: Methodology 147 Introduction The Liberal-National Coalition The results also highlight how In 2019 two further surveys are win in the 2019 Australian federal voter attitudes contributed available to complement the election came as a surprise to the to the election result. Factors AES. The first is Module 5 of the nation. The media and the polls advantaging the Coalition in the Comparative Study of Electoral australianelectionstudy.org had provided a consistent narrative 2019 election include: the focus Systems project (www.cses. in the lead up to election day that on economic issues (p. 32), an org). This survey used the Social > Access complete data files and Labor was headed for victory. area in which the Coalition has Research Centre’s ‘Life in Australia’ documentation to conduct your When we have unexpected election a strong advantage over Labor panel and was fielded just after the own analysis results, how do we make sense of (p.
    [Show full text]
  • Australian Broadcasting Authority
    Australian Broadcasting Authority annual report Sydney 2000 Annual Report 1999-2000 © Commonwealth of Australia 2000 ISSN 1320-2863 Design by Media and Public Relations Australian Broadcasting Authority Cover design by Cube Media Pty Ltd Front cover photo: Paul Thompson of DMG Radio, successful bidder for the new Sydney commercial radio licence, at the ABA auction in May 2000 (photo by Rhonda Thwaite) Printed in Australia by Printing Headquarters, NSW For inquiries about this report, contact: Publisher Australian Broadcasting Authority at address below For inquiries relating to freedom of information, contact: FOi Coordinator Australian Broadcasting Authority Level 15, 201 Sussex Street Sydney NSW 2000 Tel: (02) 9334 7700 Fax: (02) 9334 7799 .Postal address: PO Box Q500 Queen Victoria Building NSW 1230 Email: [email protected] Web site: www.aba.gov.au 2 AustJt"aHan Broadcasting Authority Level 1 S Darling Park 201 Sussex St Sydney POBoxQ500 Queen Victoria Building August 2000 NSW1230 Phone (02) 9334 7700 Fax (02) 9334 7799 Senator the Hon. RichardAlston E-mail [email protected] 'nister for Communications,Information Technology and the Arts DX 13012Marlret St Sydney liarnentHouse anberraACT 2600 In accordancewith the requirements of section 9 andSchedule 1 of the Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act 1997, I ampleased to present, on behalfof the Members of the AustralianBroadcasting Authority, thisannual reporton the operations of the llthorityfor the year 1999-2000. Annual Report 1999-2000 4 Contents Letter of transmittal 3 Members' report
    [Show full text]
  • Kim Christian BEAZLEY AC Leader of the Opposition 11 March 1996 to 10 November 2001; 28 January 2005 to 4 December 2006
    121 Kim Christian BEAZLEY AC Leader of the Opposition 11 March 1996 to 10 November 2001; 28 January 2005 to 4 December 2006 • Kim Beazley became the 26th Leader of the Opposition after the Australian Labor Party was defeated in the federal election by the Liberals led by John Howard. In 2001 he stepped down and was succeeded by Simon Crean. In 2005 he returned to the leadership after the resignation of Mark Latham. He was succeeded by Kevin Rudd in 2006 following a successful leadership challenge. • Member of the Australian Labor Party since 1980. • Member of the House of Representatives for Swan (WA) 1980-93, Brand (WA) 1993-2007. Special Minister of State 1983-84, Minister for Aviation 1983-84, Minister for Defence 1984-90, Leader of the House 1988-96, Minister for Transport and Communications 1990- 91, Minister for Finance 1991, 1993-96, Minister for Employment, Education and Training 1991-93, Deputy Prime Minister 1995-96, Shadow Minister for Defence 2004. As Opposition Leader • Opposed the introduction of the goods and services tax (GST) by the Howard Government. • In the federal election of 1998, under Kim Beazley’s leadership, the Labor Party won the majority of the popular vote, with 51.15 per cent of the national two-party preferred vote and achieving a national swing of 4.78 per cent. Despite this, the election was won by John Howard’s coalition government, who won a majority of seats in the House of Representatives. • Led the Labor Party to a net loss of four seats and a negative swing of 2.26 per cent at the federal election of 2001.
    [Show full text]
  • Graham Richardson
    Graham Richardson Former ALP minister and political powerbroker Graham ‘Richo’ Richardson has a reputation as one of Australia’s foremost political operators and right-wing powerbrokers, despite having retired from politics in 1994. Graham Richardson joined the Australian Labor Party in 1966 when he was seventeen and soon apprenticed himself to the powerbrokers in the NSW Right, some of the toughest men in the Labor Party. So began a successful and colourful political career that took him from Labor Party branch organiser to General Secretary of the Australian Labor Party (NSW Branch), Senator for New South Wales for the ALP and a senior minister in the Hawke and Keating governments, making him one of the Labor Party’s key figures until his retirement. In his 11 years in federal politics, Graham held the ministerial portfolios of Environment, Arts, Sport, Tourism, Territories, Social Security, Transport, Communications and Health. Richo came to personify political ruthlessness and established the NSW Right of the Labor Party as a formidable political force on the national scene. He became famous for the line “whatever it takes” in reference to Labor doing “whatever it takes” to retain power. This also became the title of his best-selling account of career politics, published in 1994. Known as a king-maker, Graham Richardson had a significant influence on a great many political careers. He was instrumental in replacing Bill Hayden as federal leader with Bob Hawke in 1983 then Hawke with Paul Keating in 1991. After leaving politics in 1994, Richo spent eight years working for various parts of the Packer empire.
    [Show full text]
  • The Case for a Commonwealth Anti-Corruption And
    Closing the Gap: The Case for a Commonwealth Anti-Corruption and Misconduct Commission Brian Toohey Australasian Study of Parliament Group 2013 Conference: Perth, 2 – 4 October 2013 Commonwealth politicians and public servants want us to believe they differ from other mortals. They claim to be so incorruptible — unlike their state and local government counterparts — that they don’t need a watchdog. Even suspect state officials, it seems, are immune to temptation once they take a job in Canberra. The states either have, or are getting, formidable watchdogs to reduce the risk of corruption and misconduct among their officials. But the Gillard government in 2012 rejected a parliamentary committee’s recommendation that it should look at establishing a similar federal body. The commentators focused more attention on the lesser issue of whether federal politicians need a code of conduct after the alleged misdeeds of Labor’s Graig Thomson and the Liberal’s Peter Slipper. The general consensus seems it be that they don’t need oversight from a corruption body because “everyone knows right from wrong” — a not entirely reassuring claim in the circumstances. Although it was never clear why Australian Federal Police (AFP) was less susceptible to bribery than its state equivalents, the Howard government only established the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity (ACLEI) in 2006. The government confined the commission’s initial targets to the AFP, the Australian Crime Commission and Customs. While Labor’s justice minister, Jason Clare later added the quarantine service, AUSTRAC (the money tracking agency) and CrimTrac (the body that facilitates information sharing between various police and security agencies).
    [Show full text]
  • The Leader of the Opposition
    The Leader of the Opposition ‘…just as there can be no good or stable government without a sound majority, so there will be a dictatorial government unless there is the constant criticism of an intelligent, active, and critical opposition.’ –Sir Robert Menzies, 1948 The practice in Australia is for the leader of the party or coalition that can secure a majority in the House of Representatives to be appointed as Prime Minister. The leader of the largest party or Hon. Dr. H.V. Evatt coalition outside the government serves as Leader of the Opposition. Leader of the Opposition 1951 - 1960 The Leader of the Opposition is his or her party’s candidate for Prime National Library of Australia Minister at a general election. Each party has its own internal rules for the election of a party leader. Since 1967, the Leader of the Opposition has appointed a Shadow Ministry which offers policy alternatives and criticism on various portfolios. The Leader of the Opposition is, by convention, always a member of the House of Representatives and sits opposite the Prime Minister in the chamber. The Senate leader of the opposition party is referred to as the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, even if they lead a majority of Senators. He or she usually has a senior Shadow Ministry role. Australia has an adversarial parliamentary system in which the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition face off against one another during debates in the House of Representatives. The Opposition’s role is to hold the government accountable to the people and to Parliament, as well as to provide alternative policies in a range of areas.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rudd Government Australian Commonwealth Administration 2007–2010
    The Rudd Government Australian Commonwealth Administration 2007–2010 The Rudd Government Australian Commonwealth Administration 2007–2010 Edited by Chris Aulich and Mark Evans Published by ANU E Press The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200, Australia Email: [email protected] This title is also available online at: http://epress.anu.edu.au/rudd_citation.html National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Title: The Rudd government : Australian Commonwealth administration 2007 - 2010 / edited by Chris Aulich and Mark Evans. ISBN: 9781921862069 (pbk.) 9781921862076 (eBook) Notes: Includes bibliographical references. Subjects: Rudd, Kevin, 1957---Political and social views. Australian Labor Party. Public administration--Australia. Australia--Politics and government--2001- Other Authors/Contributors: Aulich, Chris, 1947- Evans, Mark Dr. Dewey Number: 324.29407 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Cover design by ANU E Press Illustrations by David Pope, The Canberra Times Printed by Griffin Press Funding for this monograph series has been provided by the Australia and New Zealand School of Government Research Program. This edition © 2010 ANU E Press Contents Acknowledgments . vii Contributors . ix Part I. Introduction 1 . It was the best of times; it was the worst of times . 3 Chris Aulich 2 . Issues and agendas for the term . 17 John Wanna Part II. The Institutions of Government 3 . The Australian Public Service: new agendas and reform . 35 John Halligan 4 . Continuity and change in the outer public sector .
    [Show full text]
  • Australia: Background and U.S. Relations
    Order Code RL33010 Australia: Background and U.S. Relations Updated August 8, 2008 Bruce Vaughn Specialist in Asian Affairs Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Australia: Background and U.S. Relations Summary The Commonwealth of Australia and the United States are very close allies. Australia shares similar cultural traditions and values with the United States and has been a treaty ally since the signing of the Australia-New Zealand-United States (ANZUS) Treaty in 1951. Australia made major contributions to the allied cause in both the first and second World Wars and has been a staunch ally of Britain and the United States in their conflicts. Under the former Liberal government of John Howard, Australia invoked the ANZUS treaty to offer assistance to the United States after the attacks of September 11, 2001, in which 22 Australians died. Australia was one of the first countries to commit troops to U.S. military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. In October 2002, a terrorist attack on Western tourists in Bali, Indonesia, killed more than 200 persons, including 88 Australians and seven Americans. A second terrorist bombing, which killed 23, including four Australians, was carried out in Bali in October 2005. The Australian Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, was also bombed by members of Jemaah Islamiya (JI) in September 2004. Kevin Rudd, of the Labor Party, was elected prime minister on November 24, 2007. While Rudd has fulfilled an election promise to draw down Australian military forces in Iraq and has reversed Australia’s position on climate change — by signing the Kyoto protocols — relations with the United States remain very close.
    [Show full text]