Founder's Message
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, little has changed in the Australian American relationship to alter the sobering tendency for Australians to presume the permanence of the American alliance and for Americans to take Australia for granted.
Australians need to heed the prescient warning of inaugural US President George Washington to avoid permanent entanglements with foreign powers. This is particularly relevant in the aftermath of the regulated world of the Cold War and the current intergenerational shifts in leadership of both countries.
For many decades, successive Australian governments have failed to acknowledge or account for the wealth transfer from American to Australian taxpayers by way of the defence subsidy. A national conversation about the rationale and efficacy of Australia’s alliance with the United States is timely.
Anti-Americanism has deep historical roots and often functions globally as a blame shifting tactic–a reality that faces every occupant of the White House.
Australians are generous in their overall attitudes towards the United States, but draw the line on elected leaders from either side of politics engaging in genuflective behaviour.
The resonance of intergenerational change led to the creation of the Leadership Dialogue in 1992, and is a consistent factor in how Board and Advisory Council members guide our collective decision making.
Australia’s destiny this 21st century is to be a model inclusive society–secure, strong, smart, compassionate and sustainably competitive underwritten by the rule of law–where the diversity of our people is a national asset.
Our future lies with our front-yard neighbours in the Asia Pacific. Our foreign policy will maintain a global perspective, a regional focus, and be attentive to our immediate neighbourhood–for whose security and prosperity we are expected, by the rest of the world, to exercise commensurate responsibility.
Australia’s management of the US alliance is the formal task of officialdom and begins with Washington DC where elite opinion remains dominated by Atlantic perspectives. Australia however, cannot pursue its aspirations in the absence of US strategic engagement in our neighbourhood.
The Asia Pacific is a region rich in economic potential and, without a working security network, full of crises waiting to happen. The biggest issue we face is global stability. A first order priority is mature management of the most significant bilateral relationship for the next 50 years–between the United States and China.
China is on the rise but America is not falling. This is not a zero sum game. In this case, we have two dynamic peoples of vastly different demography whose destinies demand adherence to the mutuality principle.
If demography defines a nation’s future, Australia must differentially engage Indonesia, the United States, Japan, China and India. Australian governments face the challenge of navigating bilateral ties with both the USA and China in a manner that advances the interests of peoples in our extended neighbourhood–in the South Pacific, Indonesia and ASEAN, Japan, India and South Asia, Russia and the Korean peninsula.
Built on historically solid foundations, the Australian–American special military and intelligence collaboration is broadening into civilian applications. The stage is now set for new economy initiatives that will help create the platform for a sustainable high performing Australian community through 2050 and beyond.
An example is the Leadership Dialogue Project Link driven by 2008 Leadership Dialogue Scholar Larry Smarr, Director of Calit2, University of California, San Diego that is enabling Australian data intensive research institutions, universities plus the CSIRO to join the family of global innovative centres connecting people and devices on local, regional and global scales.
Every country must address the transition from 20th century passive physical infrastructure to 21st century intelligent infrastructure.
On behalf of the Leadership Dialogue, Larry Smarr also prepared an influential policy paper ‘An Intelligent Infrastructure Initiative for Australian Society and Homeland Security’ that has been read by policy makers across Australia. This policy paper is universally applicable.
Higher education, research and development and technology application are key drivers of sustained high community performance.
With this purpose in mind, the West Coast Leadership Dialogue was launched during 2007 in collaboration with the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and Stanford University. In future years the West Coast Leadership Dialogue will be held in centres of excellence in America’s western regions, where Australian leaders will be able to engage with some of America’s best and brightest on macro-economic, political, security and competitiveness issues.
The premise of the West Coast Leadership Dialogue is that Australia and the United States are Pacific neighbours who share the challenge of becoming model societies, where cultural diversity is embraced along with democratic values and a market–based economy.
The economic, environmental, political and social prosperity of the region and the relationship that Australia and USA have with the region and with each other are of paramount importance to our national and collective futures.
It is critical to Australia’s capacity to sustain high community performance that wise investments are made in science, technology, human capital development and related areas of human endeavour.
The West Coast Leadership Dialogue enables Australian and US leaders to mutually explore Australia and the United States as Pacific neighbours, strategic approaches to Japan, China, Indonesia and India, and risk avoidance at potential flashpoints including the Korean Peninsula.
Political, commercial and institutional leaders are constantly focused on what drives enhanced competitiveness. The mix is complex, ever changing and opportunistically demanding.
Australia’s challenge over the next 50 years is to ensure that our younger generations have access to domestic, world standard education options–in maths and sciences, the arts and humanities. For example, Australia needs to slipstream the US research and development powerhouse in a manner that satisfies mutual sovereignty priorities. Larry Smarr’s stewardship of Project Link is an example.
The Young Leadership Dialogue was successfully launched in 2007 to integrate intergenerational perspectives into the core of the Leadership Dialogue agenda.
Australian-American ties are strong and demand constant nurturing. With the promise of new generations of leadership, the opportunity exists to develop a broader and deeper bilateral relationship.
Australia must pursue similar conversations with our friends and neighbours including Indonesia, India, Japan, China and throughout South East Asia.
