TOPIC 4.5: Why is Northern Australia strategically significant?

Eyes to the North

While the Constitution gives exclusive power over foreign affairs and international trade to the Commonwealth, the Australian states have had a historical, and in recent decades an expansive international presence, promoting their jurisdiction for bilateral trade and foreign investment. The Australian states collectively have over 90 international offices around the world promoting trade, investment and tourism to their jurisdiction (Costa, n.d.)^[1]. Austrade is the official Commonwealth agency responsible for the trade and investment functions and with offices in 65 international cities. Despite Austrade’s global footprint and Tourism Australia having offices in 15 international cities (Tourism Australia, n.d.),^[2] Australian governments of all persuasions allow this arrangement for an international presence by the States. This is from a combination of not wanting to be seen to stifle the promotion of Australia and that Austrade itself had a view that generally everyone worked well together as ‘team Australia’ (Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, 2012, p. 59).^[3]

Within this Australian way of international trade relations, the jurisdictions of northern Australia (WA, NT and Qld) often place greater emphasis on engagement with Asia, and in Queensland’s case the Pacific. This due to their closer physical proximity as well as historical cultural and economic ties with the peoples of Indonesia, Timor, PNG and pacific islands going back millennia. Each of these jurisdictions have trade and investment strategies, often with a regional focus on Asia or the Pacific, sometimes even country specific strategies in the region.^[4][5][6]

having our collective eyes to the north is more than various Australian governments looking overseas for trade and investment opportunities in northern Australia. It includes Commonwealth governments recognising the need for development, capability and people in northern Australia for a range of strategic defence and critical industry reasons. In recognition of this, Commonwealth governments both Labor and Coalition from at least the Whitlam Labor government in the 1970s, have had ministers, usually in Cabinet, with responsibility for northern Australia.

One approach that has occupied the mind of the Northern Territory, for example, for some time is the creation of an area that can become a portal of engagement with the region. As the 2015 Commonwealth government White Paper on Developing Northern Australia,^[7] explains however, it is not as straight forward as it might at first appear.

In 2022 Madeleine King, the Commonwealth Minister for Resources and Minister for Northern Australia, announced that the 2015 White Paper would be updated to better address contemporary challenges and opportunities. In the Annual statement to Parliament on Northern Australia three priority areas for the next five-year Northern Australia Action Plan were set: human capital, enabling infrastructure, and economic development and diversification (King, 2023).^[8]

This module examined the influence of globalisation and provided some insights into how it impacts upon Australia, especially with attention to financial and economic factors. With political, domestic and global factors bearing down on Australia, government is being forced to innovate, and the public sector is required to be increasingly adaptive to initiate and respond to change. Module 6, the final module in this unit, will focus upon these requirements.