Rediscovering Foreign Policy - AIIA Fellow Dr Ric Smith AO PSM
Branch Meeting
Hosted by: AIIA WA Branch
The event will start on: Tuesday, 27 March 2012 6:00 PM
And will end on: Tuesday, 27 March 2012 8:00 PM
2 Park Road , Nedlands Western Australia
Posted by: wa
In his address to the AIIA on 27 March, Mr Smith will talk about the importance of ‘rediscovering foreign policy’ and what he considers to be the essential ingredients of sound and balanced foreign policy. He will underscore the importance of Australia positioning itself wisely in a rapidly changing world, of taking a long term view of our international interests and of understanding that, while the world is more integrated and issues are more multi-directional, our interests are unique to us and more than ever require us to plot our own way through the maze. He will emphasise as well the importance of embracing and balancing all the elements of which make up our international portfolio, of ensuring a ‘balanced portfolio’ in which we are not overweight in one class or another and do not close options needlessly.
Mr Smith will also discuss what he sees as the challenges of managing Australia’s crucial relationships with the United States and China, a task which he says will continue to require astute policy making and smart diplomacy. He will set out what he regards as the critical policy settings for the management of these relationships, which he does not regard as mutually exclusive now or in the future.
About the Speaker:
Ric Smith was born, raised and educated in Western Australia, and taught in High Schools in Kalgoorlie and Albany for three years before joining the then Department of External Affairs in 1969. From then until 1995, he served in Australian diplomatic missions in India, Israel, the Philippines, and the United States, and in the South Pacific, and as a Deputy Secretary in the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Defence. From 1996 to 2000 he served as Australia’s Ambassador to China, and at the same time to Mongolia. In 2001 and 2002 he was Ambassador to Indonesia, a period which embraced the Bali bombing. From 2002 until the end of 2006 he was Secretary of the Department of Defence. After retiring from that position he completed a review for the Government of Australia’s ‘Homeland and Border Security’ in 2008. His ‘second career’ has also included serving as Australia’s ‘Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan’ since 2009. He is currently working on a review of Australian Defence Force posture.
Click here to view the flyer for the event.