Dr Geoff Raby: Malcolm Fraser’s legacy of Australian foreign policy leadership
Australia’s former ambassador to China, Dr Geoff Raby AO, has called for Australia to demonstrate “strong, unsentimental leadership” in foreign policy to achieve its national interests in a rapidly changing multi-polar global order.
Delivering the Malcolm Fraser Oration at the University of Melbourne to an audience that included Tamie Fraser AO, academics, public servants and foreign policy commentators, Dr Raby reflected on the former Prime Minister’s foreign policy legacy, human rights advocacy and Australia’s place on the world stage.
He stated that the Australia-China relationship is “at its lowest point ever” and noted that among countries who share a commitment to open, liberal democratic values, only Australia has had its official relationship with China suspended for over two years.
“Simply, other likeminded countries, even where they have historical or outstanding territorial disputes with China, have managed their relations more adroitly than Australia has been able to do,” Dr Raby said.
Dr Raby argued that Australia’s current foreign policy approach of “strategic competition” toward China was a “lose-lose strategy” that harms our national interests and limits our ability to advocate for liberal values.
“To defend and advance Australia’s interests, and be able to influence events to Australia’s advantage, it is necessary to have normal, functioning relations with the major power in our region.
“How then do we deal with a rising assertive China? Does Malcolm Fraser’s realist approach, based on a combination of interests and principles, provide guidance to this major public policy challenge? I believe it does and that Fraser would have handled the relationship very differently than today.”
An extract of Dr Raby’s Malcolm Fraser Oration can be read in Pursuit, and the Oration can be viewed here.
After 27 years in the Australian public service and serving as Australia’s Ambassador to China from 2007 to 2011, Dr Raby now heads Geoff Raby and Associates, a Beijing-based strategic advisory firm.
The Malcolm Fraser Oration was established by the University of Melbourne in 2017, in memory of the 22nd Prime Minister of Australia, and provides an opportunity to explore matters of public and social interest in line with Fraser’s vision for Australia, his support for multiculturalism, universal democratic principles, human rights, and free speech.
Previous orators include the last Governor of Hong Kong Christopher Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes CH PC, and human rights advocate and barrister Julian Burnside AO QC.