The Deputy Chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, Queensland Liberal, Senator Russell Trood, has today welcomed Foreign Minister Smith’s announcement that he has instituted a review on the Department of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade.

Senator Trood said DFAT has been severely affected by the financial straight jacket the Rudd Government had imposed on the Department with its budget cuts and the imposition of the efficiency dividend.

“If conducted properly, the review should serve to highlight the severe impact of the budget cuts on Australia’s Foreign Service and Australia’s capacity for sound foreign policy development,” Senator Trood said.

Senator Trood said that while the review needed to be completed expeditiously it also needed to be thorough.

He said the review needed to focus on several key areas of DFAT activity:

1. The nature and extent of Australia’s representation abroad, having regard to the nation’s key national interests.
2. The steady decline in expertise in Australia’s overseas missions, especially the loss of Australia-based staff affecting posts’ political reporting, diplomatic representation, trade and commercial activity, and the conduct of Australia’s public diplomacy.
3. The need to strengthen DFAT’s capacity for policy analysis and development, and the conduct of long range strategic assessment.

“The Rudd Government needs to show that its election commitment to strengthening the foundations of Australian foreign policy and improving Australia’s representation abroad is more than just election rhetoric,” Senator Trood said.

“To date there has been a great deal of hypocrisy about the Government’s ambitious foreign policy agenda. Mr Rudd and Mr Smith have made a large number of promises about increasing Australian activism on the world stage while simultaneously undermining the financial health of the department of state most directly responsible for carrying out their agenda.”

“If the review doesn’t result in a substantial increase in DFAT’s funding it will have been a complete waste of time,” Senator Trood said.