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Article: Liberals and Australian foreign policy *.(Liberal foreign policy conference paper, 2001)(Transcript)
- Article from:
- The Australian Journal of Politics and History
- Article date:
- September 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 University of Queensland Press. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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I have been asked to speak about Liberal Party foreign policy over fifty years. Let me first try and set the scene.
In the beginning, Australia was very much a child of Empire. In the First World War, when Britain went to war, we also went to war. In these years, Australia had no defence or foreign policy, although Alfred Deakin believed that constituent parts of the Empire should be given an effective voice in Empire affairs. Our only representation was in London itself.
When Robert Menzies became Prime Minister on 26 April 1939, it was also reported that Australia was going to establish her own Diplomatic Missions in Washington, Tokyo and Beijing. ...