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Foreign Minister visits Monash as part of public policy forums

29 August 2007

Ms Joanna Chen, Professor Marika Vicziany, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, Professor Stephanie Fahey, Professor Rae Frances and Professor Rob Norris at the inaugural public policy forum lecture hosted by Monash Asia Institute.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer visited Monash University last week as part of a lecture series hosted by the Monash Asia Institute.

The inaugural lecture was part of a series of public policy forums in the lead up to the Australian federal election.

Mr Downer's lecture was titled 'Australian foreign policy: today and tomorrow'.

The speech was delivered to a packed audience in one of the University's Rotunda building lecture theatres.

Topics covered by the Foreign Minister included the rise of new powers in Asia, counter-terrorism, fragile states and state building, global issues, weapons of mass destruction, and climate change.

Mr Downer paid tribute to the University's role in developing Australia's relationship with Asia.

"Monash University has made a remarkable contribution to Australia's connections with Asia over the past 46 years," he told the audience.

"I want to pay tribute to the many academics here at Monash who have taught and continue to teach young Australians the languages, history, culture, politics, economics and more, of the diverse countries of Asia.

"And I want to pay tribute to Monash University's pioneering development of links with Asia. Monash established the first foreign university branch campus in Malaysia nearly ten years ago -- now a thriving campus of distinction in teaching and research."

Mr Downer spoke at length about Australia's relationship with countries such as China, India, Japan, the United States, the Philippines, Indonesia and East Timor, among others.

"One goal of foreign policy is to make sure that your country is well-placed to meet the challenges of tomorrow," he said.

"For Australia, this means building our relationships with key countries in Asia and beyond. We have strengthened our relationship with the United States, we have strengthened our relations with the emerging giants China and India, and our relationships with key partners like Indonesia and Japan have new depth to them.

"The strength of our relationships and our flexible approach to finding solutions means we are well placed to deal with the challenges we face today: the shifting distribution of global power, counter-terrorism, assisting fragile states, preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction and climate change."