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Viewing cable 08CANBERRA721, SCENESETTER FOR SECRETARY RICE'S VISIT TO PERTH,

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
08CANBERRA721 2008-07-17 07:15 2011-08-30 01:44 SECRET//NOFORN Embassy Canberra
O 170715Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY CANBERRA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9872
INFO AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE IMMEDIATE 
AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON IMMEDIATE 
AMCONSUL PERTH IMMEDIATE 
AMCONSUL MELBOURNE IMMEDIATE 
AMCONSUL SYDNEY IMMEDIATE 
SECDEF WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI IMMEDIATE
S E C R E T CANBERRA 000721 
 
SIPDIS 
NOFORN 
 
FOR THE SECRETARY FROM CHARGE DANIEL A. CLUNE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/17/2018 
TAGS: OVIP RICE CONDOLEEZZA OTRA PREL AS
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR SECRETARY RICE'S VISIT TO PERTH, 
JULY 24-25 
 
Classified By: CDA Daniel A. Clune. Reasons: 1.4(b),(d) 
 
 
SUMMARY: 
------- 
1. (C/NF) Kevin Rudd, who was sworn in on December 3, 2007, 
as the first Australian Labor Party prime minister in nearly 
12 years, has moved quickly to implement domestic reforms and 
to give substance to a three-pronged foreign policy based on 
the primacy of the treaty alliance with the United  States, 
greater commitment to multilateral organizations, and deeper 
engagement with Asia.  Rudd has delivered on campaign 
promises to roll back the previous government's controversial 
industrial relations legislation, sign the Kyoto Protocol and 
withdraw Australian combat troops from Iraq, while 
maintaining Australia's combat commitment to Afghanistan "for 
the long haul."  He issued a historic apology to Australian 
Aborigines on the first day of the new Parliament, announced 
a new development pact with the Pacific Islands, and swiftly 
dispatched troops to Timor-Leste in February after the 
attempted assassination of President Ramos Horta. Eight 
months into his administration, however, Rudd's record 
popularity following the Australian Labor Party's (ALP) 
resounding election victory over the conservative 
Liberal/National Coalition government of John Howard has 
begun to decline.  Domestically, while the economy continues 
into its 17th straight year of growth, Rudd is grappling to 
prevent a resurgence of inflation along with the challenges 
of a prolonged drought and the need to address climate change 
by imposition of a complicated and politically fraught 
emissions trading system beginning in 2010. 
 
2. (C/NF) Despite his background as a former diplomat and 
Opposition foreign affairs spokesperson, Rudd made some early 
missteps with India and Japan, and his failure to consult 
with international stakeholders, including the United States, 
before announcing major foreign policy initiatives on 
regional architecture and nonproliferation/disarmament 
generated additional criticism.  He signaled a determination 
during the election campaign to be a more critical partner of 
the United States than his predecessor, tapping into 
widespread unease over the extent of U.S. influence on 
Australia's foreign policy, particularly over Iraq.  An 
advocate of "middle power diplomacy," Rudd can be expected to 
continue to challenge the United States to do more on climate 
change, arms control and disarmament.  Policy differences 
aside, however, Rudd is strongly committed to Australia's 
alliance with the United States, and his endorsement of 
ongoing collaboration with the United States across the broad 
range of shared interests highlights Australia's 
determination to be a reliable partner. END SUMMARY 
 
U.S. ALLIANCE 
------------- 
3. (SBU) Support for the U.S. alliance, underpinned by the 
1951 Australia-New Zealand-United States (ANZUS) Treaty, is 
foremost among the three pillars of Rudd's foreign policy 
(the others are cooperative engagement with multilateral 
organizations such as the UN and engagement with Asia).  Rudd 
has made clear Australia's commitment to the alliance and was 
quick to reach out to the United States in his election night 
victory speech - the only foreign country he mentioned.  As 
you know, he met with President Bush in Washington, D.C. on 
Qyou know, he met with President Bush in Washington, D.C. on 
his first major international trip. 
 
4. (C/NF) Rudd stressed in his election campaign that he 
would be more independent from the United States than his 
predecessor, John Howard, who was perceived by the Australian 
public to have been in lockstep with President Bush over such 
unpopular issues as Iraq.  One area where the Rudd 
government's policy diverges somewhat from ours is climate 
change, a topic that resonates strongly in Australia where 
many see a direct causal link with a series of recent, very 
severe droughts.  PM Rudd ratified the Kyoto Protocol within 
hours of being sworn in, and is committed to implementing an 
emissions cap and trade system beginning in 2010.  Another 
area in which there appears to be an emerging change of 
emphasis is in arms control and disarmament.  Rudd has 
established an International Commission on Nuclear 
Nonproliferation and Disarmament, co-chaired by Japan, with a 
declared focus on nuclear disarmament that we have cautioned 
should not come at the expense of nonproliferation efforts. 
 
 
ECONOMY 
------- 
5. (SBU) Rudd's extended political honeymoon with the public 
has begun to fade as his government confronts some of the 
more contentious political and economic realities.  Rudd's 
principal economic challenge is rising inflation, attributed 
mainly to capacity constraints, particularly labor, as 
Australia continues its 17th consecutive year of growth, 
thanks largely to a commodities boom fueled by China and 
India.  The Reserve Bank of Australia raised interest rates 
for the fourth time in eight months at the beginning of 
March, part of a trend that has pushed up variable rate 
mortgages and exacerbated the problem of housing 
affordability for Australia.  Moreover, sharply rising gas 
prices -- now more than six dollars a gallon -- have 
contributed to declining consumer confidence.  Nonetheless, 
unemployment is still near 33-year lows, labor participation 
is at all-time highs, and all signs point to significant 
increases in resource prices that will ripple through the 
Australian economy. 
 
6. (SBU) The centerpiece of our close bilateral economic 
relations is the U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement, which 
went into effect in January 2005.  The U.S. enjoys a $10 
billion trade surplus with Australia, our third-largest in 
the world.  We are Australia's largest economic partner - the 
third largest trading partner (after China and Japan), and by 
far the largest foreign investor in Australia.  Australia is 
our 14th-largest trading partner, and the bulk of Australian 
overseas investment flows to the United States. 
 
 
SOME MISSTEPS ON FOREIGN POLICY 
------------------------------- 
7. (C/NF) While Rudd served as a diplomat early in his career 
and is the only Western world leader who is fluent in 
Mandarin, his government has made some early misjudgments in 
the foreign affairs area.  Foreign Minister Smith angered 
India with his public announcement, made while standing next 
to his Chinese counterpart, that Australia would no longer 
support a Quadrilateral Strategic Dialogue with India -- a 
short-lived offshoot of the Trilateral Strategic Dialogue 
(U.S.-Japan-Australia) -- in deference to China's 
sensitivities.  Rudd irritated Japan with his government's 
threats to take legal action against Japanese whaling, 
coupled with release of GOA photographs of Japan's whaling 
activities, and his failure to include Japan, a major 
security and trade partner, on his first major overseas trip. 
 Moreover, Rudd encountered criticism and raised eyebrows for 
the hasty manner in which he rolled out two major foreign 
policy initiatives in June.  His vision for a European 
Union-style Asia Pacific Community by 
2020, unveiled on June 4, and his June 9 announcement that 
Australia would establish an International Commission on 
Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament and host an 
international conference to shape the outcome of the 2010 
Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference, were both 
launched without internal vetting or consultation with the 
international stakeholder countries whose support would be 
needed for the success of these undertakings.  Senior 
officials have ascribed the lapse to Rudd's rush to fulfill 
foreign policy promises made during the election campaign and 
Qforeign policy promises made during the election campaign and 
the "talismanic" importance of nuclear disarmament to the 
Australian Labor Party, but Rudd's inclination to rely on his 
small inner circle of advisors rather than on his 
bureaucracy, and his evident need to dominate the headlines 
may also explain his actions. 
 
 
COMMITMENT TO MULTILATERAL ORGANIZATIONS 
---------------------------------------- 
8. (C) To further the GOA's engagement with multilateral 
organizations, the second pillar of his foreign policy, PM 
Rudd announced Australia would seek a seat on the UN Security 
Council for the 2013-2014 term, and he has traveled to 
Brussels to reinvigorate Australia's ties with the European 
Union.  While in opposition, the ALP supported international 
military action to overthrow the Taliban in Afghanistan in 
2002 but opposed the invasion of Iraq, partly because the 
latter action lacked a UN mandate.  Rudd's vision for an 
EU-like Asia Pacific Community by 2020 also builds on his 
commitment to address international challenges through 
multilateral fora. 
 
 
DEFENSE COOPERATION 
------------------- 
9. (C/NF) The Rudd government has ordered a comprehensive 
review of defense policy, including the review of some major 
defense acquisitions from the United States, that has slowed 
or postponed bilateral cooperation in some areas, such as 
missile defense.  While the Defence White Paper will not be 
completed until at least March 2009, we have been assured 
privately not to expect surprises in the overall strategic 
assessment, and we expect defense cooperation to proceed with 
little interruption.  We can expect Australia's continued 
contributions to military operations targeting the Taliban 
and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, and a continued non-combat role 
in Iraq.  The small size of its military - 52,000 personnel - 
which is beset with recruitment and retention problems, and 
demands of deployments elsewhere mean Australia will be hard 
pressed to increase substantially the level of its 
deployments for some time to come.  Despite this, we are 
confident Australia will remain one of our closest allies and 
most reliable security partners for the foreseeable future, 
and expect the GOA to remain the large consumer of U.S. 
defense hardware and technology in the Asia-Pacific area. 
 
10. (SBU) The United States Senate is currently reviewing the 
U.S.-Australia Defense Cooperation Treaty and accompanying 
Implementing Arrangements, although the parallel U.K. 
agreement leads any progress on the Australian document.  The 
Australian Defence Materiel Organisation estimates a 50 
percent reduction in export licenses required following 
treaty implementation. 
 
11. (S/REL AUS) As discussed with the Howard government 
during your visit to Sydney with President Bush in September 
2007, and as reconfirmed during the 2008 AUSMIN meeting, our 
two governments have agreed to strengthen combined 
capabilities and U.S. military access to Australia, referred 
to as Enhanced Defense Cooperation.  Both sides subsequently 
agreed to focus on three areas:  enhancing the Joint Combined 
Training Capability; prepositioning equipment for 
Humanitarian Assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR) 
operations in the region; and strengthening Intelligence, 
Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) access and cooperation. 
 
IRAQ 
---- 
12. (C/NF) The approximately 515 Australian combat troops 
comprising the Overwatch Battle Group in southern Iraq, plus 
the 100-strong Australian Army Training Team, were withdrawn 
in June, leaving in place approximately 1,000 defense 
personnel, including a 100-man security detachment for its 
diplomatic mission in Baghdad, and naval and air patrol 
assets based in neighboring countries that support operations 
in both Iraq and Afghanistan.  Beyond the redeployment of the 
combat element, the Australians plan to remain engaged in 
Iraq in reconstruction and other non-combat roles, and the 
Australian government is considering possible additional 
training and technical assistance.  We have asked Australia 
to contribute specialists to serve in U.S. PRTs, for example. 
 Despite the withdrawal of Australian combat forces from 
Iraq, PM Rudd agreed in July 2008 to allow Australian 
exchange officers serving in units of other countries 
including the U.S. to deploy to Iraq in combat and combat 
Qincluding the U.S. to deploy to Iraq in combat and combat 
support roles with those units. 
 
AFGHANISTAN 
----------- 
13. (C/NF) Unlike Iraq, there has been bipartisan support in 
Australia for its troop commitment in Afghanistan, and the 
Rudd government has reaffirmed that it plans to remain in 
Afghanistan for the "long haul."   Support for Australia's 
combat role in Afghanistan is linked in part to the presence 
of al-Qaeda and the Taliban, who trained bombers that killed 
202 civilians, including 88 Australians, in Bali in 2002; the 
impact of the Afghan drug trade on Australia; and to the fact 
that Australia's military engagement in Afghanistan was 
authorized by UN Security Council resolutions.  The 
Australian government has agreed to deploy an Operational 
Mentoring and Liaison Team (OMLT) to help train the Afghan 
National Army and to provide additional civilian development 
assistance beginning in September, but is not currently 
contemplating increasing its combat forces.  Six Australian 
soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since 2002, 
including three Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) troops 
from the Campbell Barracks in Perth, a site you will visit on 
July 25.  The most recent casualty was Sean McCarthy, a 
signaller serving with the Special Operations Task Group, 
killed by an IED while on patrol in southern Afghanistan on 
July 8.  (Another Perth-based SAS soldier died in Kuwait 
during a training exercise in 2005.) 
 
U.S.-INDIA CIVIL NUCLEAR DEAL 
----------------------------- 
14. (C/NF) Rudd has declared Australia will not export 
uranium to India because it has not signed the Nuclear 
Nonproliferation Treaty.  He has privately signaled to us, 
however, that Australia likely will support an exception for 
the U.S.-India civil nuclear agreement in the Nuclear 
Suppliers Group and IAEA, an assurance he repeated to the 
Indian Foreign Minister in June. 
 
CHINA 
----- 
15. (C/NF) An important dynamic in the U.S. relationship with 
a new Labor government is China.  China is now Australia's 
largest trading partner and Rudd views the Chinese export 
market as a critical component of Australia's growth now and 
well into the future.  PM Rudd's background as a 
Mandarin-speaking former diplomat who served in Beijing has 
led some to believe that he might be overly sensitive towards 
China, but he has demonstrated a balanced view.  Rudd shares 
our position that China needs to be encouraged to be a 
responsible stakeholder in the international system, but 
cautions that the international community needs to be 
prepared for the possibility that China's rise might take a 
"malign" turn.  Moreover, the GOA shares our concerns about 
China's military modernization, transparency, and human 
rights abuses.  Rudd spoke out strongly to protest China's 
crackdown in Tibet during his first official visit to China. 
 
 
CLUNE