Problems in Australian Foreign Policy, July‐December, 1988

With the exception of some dramatic incidents – most notable the Yugoslav Consulate shooting and the subsequent diplomatic “exchange of expulsions” – Australia’s major foreign policy concerns for the period centred largely on developments in Asia and the Pacific as well as on the perennial issues of defence and trade. In addition, the controversy sparked by Federal Opposition Leader John Howard’s comments on the question of Asian migration into Australia had some important implications for Australian foreign policy. The immigration debate was especially counter-productive for Australia’s attempts to assert a significant leadership role in a region which is, rather obviously, dominated almost exclusively by non Anglo-Celic people.