FED: A statement of intent from the prime minister

AAP General News (Australia)
12-05-2008
FED: A statement of intent from the prime minister

By Peter Veness

CANBERRA, Dec 5 AAP - Kevin Rudd's first national security statement is a sound, considered
and complex keystone on which much defence and foreign policy will rest.

After months of anticipation, the prime minister on Friday delivered the statement.

He began with over-arching words and a definition of national security but that soon
gave way to detail - Rudd's first love.

We know now, after some lightly floated suggestions, the government is developing a
counter-terrorism white paper and will deliver a "regular" foreign policy statement.

It's clear the Mumbai shootings and bombings reminded Rudd very strongly of the threat
posed by militant Islamism. He wasn't so much shaken as stirred into action.

The counter-terrorism white paper will sit alongside the defence white paper, which
is delayed and now due in the first half of 2009.

It isn't just the obvious risks of terrorism and failed states in the Pacific that
Rudd is on about. He gave more than a passing mention to climate change.

"Less attention has been given to the security implications that climate change could
bring to Australia compared with other traditional security challenges," he said at about
the halfway mark of his 45 minute speech.

"This is an area of emerging consequences which will require the formal incorporation
of climate change within Australia's national security policy and analysis process."

Rudd's wider interpretation of national security leads back, in part, to one of the
government's quiet achievers.

Since taking office, Attorney-General Robert McClelland has slowly developed a detailed
perspective on how to meet emerging threats like cyber-espionage, which has the potential
to destroy financial institutions, and climate change, which may well lead to a new type
of asylum seeker.

McClelland's key word has been resilience.

It was a theme pointedly echoed by Rudd.

"Australia will seek, wherever possible, to develop self reliance across the range
of relevant national security capabilities to ensure an effective contribution to our
own security," the prime minister said.

"One of the fundamental assets we have to promote our national security objectives
is our underlying strength, resilience and cohesion as a nation."

At the other end of the security spectrum comes a different resilience.

"In Australia, we have a strong tradition of volunteering to support our communities,
especially in times of emergency, demonstrating the innate resilience and collective responsibility
we all share as Australians."

There's no doubt this first national security statement has the firm print of the prime
minister. But it is also what he would call "whole of government".

And one of the main players was most certainly the solid, dependable and calm Attorney-General
Robert McClelland.

AAP pv/kms/jfm/de

KEYWORD: SECURITY (AAP NEWS ANALYSIS) RPTG

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