Issues in Australian Foreign Policy

The second half of 2001 will be remembered as one of the more eventful and significant periods in recent Australian foreign policy. Two issues - immigration policy and the terrorist attack on the United States - dominated the period under review here. Although Australian interests were, arguably, only indirectly involved in the latter incident, the aftermath of 'September the eleventh', as the attack rapidly became known, overshadowed Australia's federal election and gave foreign and security policy a rare prominence amongst an Australian electorate not usually known for its interest in foreign affairs. The tumultuous events of late 2001 not only threw the conduct and efficacy of John Howard's coalition government's foreign policy into sharp relief, it highlighted a number of issues that are likely to be central to the agendas of foreign policy-makers more generally over the coming decades.