The White Paper on Australia and the Asian Century

Peter Drysdale

Crawford School of Public Policy , ANU

Australian Parliamentary Library, Key Issues Seminar, Canberra, 16 August 2012

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• what’s going on in Asia is big; the scale and speed of change

• Asia’s century is here: income and trade share; middle class; rates of growth; impact on the world

• impact on Australia, the region and the world

• Importance of geography and distance

• regional and global impact

• nature of the task

Welcome the Asian Century

• Prime Minister’s announcement set context

•Task Force and Advisory Committee

• scale of the task; national consultations

• participation and interest

• submissions and press

• government white paper; but exceptional character• attending to the opportunities and the risks• attending to shifts in economic and political power

Re-Thinking National Strategies

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What Broad Priorities?• what needs to be done at home

• economic and social policy settings: scale of impact on Australia

• international initiatives: global setting of Asia’s growth

• Asia in the G20; regional arrangements; and bilateral partnerships; and shared security

• national assets and capabilities in business, education and the public sectors: (30 per cent overseas born; 10 per cent Asian born);

Lessons So Far

• stakeholder and community response• recognition of the importance and ambition of the White

Paper study• beginning of a national conversation• White Paper cannot pretend to all the solutions now• setting policy directions for the future• engaging business and community leaders in policy

development• beyond government: a shared task in changing mindsets

and priorities

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