AS POSTED HERE ---> Diplomats are learning to do more with less
Kevin Rudd's chosen new head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Dennis Richardson, has set out a bold mission statement for his diplomats in budget documents: to spearhead a "whole of government" approach to key international issues.
But he has been given precious few resources in the budget to put this into effect. For all Rudd's big objectives in foreign affairs, the "diplomatic deficit" criticised by the Lowy Institute last year continues.
Foreign Affairs continues to operate with a budget showing a modest 6.75 per cent increase to $2.212 billion for its core functions of reporting the world and representing Australia.
This is to pursue such goals as Rudd's vision of an Asia-Pacific Community by 2020, persuading the world to do without nuclear weapons, bringing India up to the top rank of Australia's foreign relationships, and winning a United Nations Security Council seat in two years' time.
The latter goal is the most expensive one. It involves cultivating scores of countries previously perceived as peripheral to Australian interests, 50 of them in Africa, in the hope they will vote for Australia over Finland and Luxembourg in a ballot for the rotating place at the UN top table.
To this end, Stephen Smith has been going to capitals where no Australian foreign minister has trod before, and entertaining a colourful procession of African leaders in Canberra. Plans are afoot to open a new Australian embassy in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital that also hosts the headquarters of the African Union. The mission will include a military officer to co-ordinate support for the African Union's growing security role in places such as Sudan and Somalia.
The budget includes a substantial aid allocation for Africa this year, $200 million.
Commendably, the foreign aid agency that comes under the department is the main winner. AusAID's allocation goes up by $531 million, or 14 per cent, to $4.35 billion, and its traditional customers have not been ignored, with substantial increases to Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, East Timor and the Pacific island nations.
Foreign Affairs itself has made some savings from internal efficiencies and the strong Australian dollar, but has pared back funding for consular and passport services for Australian travellers, and made a savage cut to public diplomacy. The Australian Secret Intelligence Service, coming under the department, has no growth in real funding.
Rudd has also stripped Australian diplomacy of some intangible assets. His early accession to the Kyoto Treaty and apology to the Aboriginal stolen generation gained Australia new kudos in the Third World countries whose UN vote he seeks. The ETS reversal and the continued, controversial "intervention" have diminished his diplomatic capital.
