2. The Blue Ribbon Panel
Established July 2008 to review the state of Australia’s instruments of international policy
First public report on Australia’s overseas network in over 20 years

3. The Blue Ribbon Panel Jillian Broadbent AO Professor Peter Shergold AC
William Maley AM
Brad Orgill
Professor
Peter Shergold AC
Ric Smith AO PSM
Allan Gyngell (Chair)

4. How the panel functioned
Met formally four times, with regular communications from August 2008 to March 2009
Meeting and correspondence with DFAT (root and branch review, consular and public diplomacy, trade)
Communications with other government departments and agencies
Formal information requests from review countries (UK, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Netherlands)

5. Part 1 – shaping a changing world
Globalisation
Information revolution
Wicked problems
Shifting centre of world economic power
Increasing number of non-state actors

6. Part 2 - Instruments of international policy
Australia’s overseas network
Consular services
Public diplomacy tools
Trade and investment promotion agencies
Australia’s overseas aid program
International policy bureaucracy
Defence, intelligence and law enforcement cooperation
Companies, NGOs and think-tanks

7. Australia’s international engagement
13th most globalised nation (Foreign Policy’s Globalization Index 2007)
15th largest economy
$A the 6th most traded currency
1 in 5 jobs depend on exports
12th largest defence budget
13th largest aid budget
1 million Australians live overseas
1 in 4 Australians was born overseas

11. Resourcing - staff 25% drop in DFAT overseas staff 1996-2008
15% fewer DFAT total staff overall
AFP up 151 per cent
ASIO up 139 per cent
ONA up 75 per cent
DFA in 1986: 780 overseas staff
DFAT in 2008: (combined department) 517 overseas staff: 1/3 fewer

16. Consular services 57,706 (1997-8) ↓ 184,992 (2007-8)
6 million Australian residents travelled overseas
9.6 million hold passports
1 million live overseas
Consular assistance cases
57,706 (1997-8) ↓
184,992 (2007-8)
Travel advisories
122 – 80 destinations (1998-9)
1,165 – 165 destinations (2007-8)

18. Funding for consular and passports
19% departmental expenditure
(+/- 1% since )
Passports and consular combined in departmental reporting: masks inadequate consular funding
Passports funding formula

19. Public diplomacy Definition:
diplomacy directed at publics, rather than governments of foreign countries
to shape opinion of key target audiences in ways that further policy objectives
“… the ability to shape proactively the global agenda and operating environment in ways favourable to the United States’ enduring interests and objectives .. requires coherent and persuasive public diplomacy backed by sufficient resources and shaped by a long-term vision of the nation’s strategic interest…”
Advisory Committee on Transformational Diplomacy,
State Department in 2025 Working Group

20. International policy machinery
Amalgamation of DFA and Trade
National Security Committee (1996)
PM&C expanded role and size
30 international division staff in
80 staff covering similar issues in
IDCs
Informal policy networks
National security adviser (PM&C)
National intelligence coordination commitee

22. DFAT vs other agencies overseas
A-based staff overseas
(excluding Defence):
DFA (not incl. Trade) in 1986: 780
Non-DFA in 1986: 438
DFAT in 2008: 517
Non-DFAT in 2008: 572
fewer DFAT staff now than DFA alone in 1986

25. Non-government actors
61,000 multinational corporations
5,000 think tanks internationally
NGOs
Private philanthropists
challenge: successfully leveraging non-state actors to work towards similar objectives

26. Reinvesting in the overseas network
75 new A-based staff to redress overstretching - now
20 new properly staffed missions – next ten years
40% overseas staff goal

27. Diplomats for the 21st century
investment in skills
incentivise leadership, initiative, transparency, results

28. Consular services Separate head, budget Boost consular staff pool
Education (public and media)
Reciprocal obligations

29. Public diplomacy
Senior strategic communications coordinator (whole-of-government)
Review guidelines on contact with media
New media techniques
Targeted cultural diplomacy

30. Economic diplomacy Partner with private sector
Plan to grow markets and boost exports
Marketing Australia – students, skilled migrants, tourists

31. Aid Adapt for GFC impact International policy aims Badging
Engagement with civil society

32. Outreach
Build domestic constituency
Policy task groups
New media

33. International policy machinery
Coordination and integration across agencies
Goals and priorities – measurability
Include regular review of language and other diplomacy skills