Parties square off on foreign affairs

12 Aug 2010, 12:41 pm   -   Source: SBS - Shalailah Medhora
0 Comments
Share This
+ Comment
0
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith (AAP)

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith (AAP)

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith and his Liberal counterpart Julie Bishop have debated their respective parties' stance on foreign affairs during an address at the National Press Club in Canberra.

RELATED

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith and his Liberal counterpart Julie Bishop have debated their respective parties' stance on foreign affairs during an address at the National Press Club in Canberra.

Ms Bishop spoke first, saying Australia's foreign policy "must be accountable" to all voters.

Ms Bishop says our relationship with Asia was an important one, but we must also strengthen ties with traditional Western allies.

The MP says the Labor Government damaged some of our traditional ties while in power.

She paid tribute to our strongest trading partners, the US, China, Indonesia and Japan.

"India is now our 8th largest trading partner," Ms Bishop says, while announcing the Coalition will reinstate an in-principle agreement to sell uranium to the nuclear-armed nation.

Ms Bishop says the Coalition would not pursue a seat on the United Nations Security Council.

The Opposition spokeswoman reiterated the Coalition's commitment to international aid.

She announced that the Coalition would instate an International Development portfolio in the Department of Foreign Affairs, along with its own minister.

Mr Smith says when Labor took office in 2007, it decided to strengthen ties with the United Nations and with the Asia-Pacific region, two areas that he said had been neglected during the Howard years.

Mr Smith also paid tribute to Australia's relationship with the United States, in particular with the shared goal of stabilising Afghanistan.

The Minister says international engagement is vital in a modern world, and drew on the example of Australia's role in combating the global financial crisis.

Mr Smith says Labor successfully chaired the Pacific Islands Forum, and repaired damaged ties with Papua New Guinea.

"We [Australia] have been a good international citizen," Mr Smith says.

Ms Bishop criticised Labor for its Timor solution for the offshore processing of asylum seekers, saying Dili was "deeply concerned" about the plans to hold asylum seekers in East Timor.

Mr Smith retaliated by saying he had been in constant touch with regional partners in regards to the asylum seeker issue.

He acknowledged Labor had inherited a good relationship with Indonesia from the previous Howard Government, but says Labor had taken this relationship "to a new level".

Mr Smith announced a taskforce to review whether Australia's interests had been damaged by the WikiLeaks Afghan exposure.

He says he did not know if the founder of the whistleblower site, Julian Assange, had been the subject of a criminal investigation.

He says Australia and the US are seeking clarification on whether military operations in Afghanistan were at risk due to the leak. 

  • Follow us: 
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Youtube

Join the Discussion

Name
City / Suburb E.g. Artarmon, Sydney
Title
Comment
You have characters remaining.
Validation
What's this?
This is a captcha-picture. It is used to prevent mass-access by robots.
All submitted comments become the property of SBS. They are moderated, so we reserve the right to edit comments and remove HTML tags. Not all submitted comments will be published. Publication does not mean we endorse the opinions expressed. Please read our terms and conditions for more information.