Australian Polity, Volume 9 Number 3 - Digital Version

power strategic competition. This includes rapid military
modernisation, tension over territorial claims, heightened
economic coercion, undermining of international law,
including the law of the sea, through to enhanced
disinformation, foreign interference and cyber threats,
enabled by new and emerging technologies.
As the G7 plus leaders meet in Cornwall, our patterns of
cooperation within a liberal, rules-based order, that have
benefitted us for so long, are under renewed strain. As
American scholar Robert Kagan has warned, ‘the jungle is
growing back’. As leaders of some of the world’s largest
liberal democracies and advanced economies, we must
tend to the gardening with renewed clarity, unity and
purpose. Our challenge is nothing less than to reinforce,
renovate and buttress a world order that favours freedom.
Meeting this challenge will require an active cooperation
among like-minded countries and liberal democracies
not seen for 30 years. The COVID-19 crisis merely
underlines the urgent need to deepen and accelerate
our shared endeavours.
For inspiration we should look to the years immediately
following the Second World War to a world in flux
with competing models for economies and societies.
It was a time when President Truman called for ‘the
creation of conditions in which we [the United States]
and other nations will be able to work out a way of life
free of coercion’. In many parts of the world (old and
new), anxious peoples were craving peace, stability,
prosperity and a sense of sovereign control over national
destinies. Then, a remarkable generation of far-sighted
policymakers, under American leadership, set out to
bring order to this uncertain world; and importantly
order informed by liberal values and grounded in rulesbased
institutions. I believe the challenges we face today
demand the same common purpose for this new era.
Australia brings its own distinctive perspective to global
challenges, informed by where we are and who we are
- our principles, our values and of course our national
character. Our interests are inextricably linked to an
open, inclusive and resilient Indo-Pacific region. That
is our interest. And to a strategic balance in the region
that favours freedom and allows us to be who we are –
a vibrant liberal democracy, an outward-looking open
destiny in accordance with our own national sovereignty.
Let me explore five areas of Australian advocacy and
agency. The broad themes are:
• Supporting open societies, open economies and our
rules-based order;
• Building sovereign capacity, capability and resilience;
• Cooperating on global challenges;
• Enabling renewed business-led growth and development;
and
• Demonstrating that liberal democracies work.
I want to be clear about what we are seeking to do, of
course. I also want to be clear about what we are not
seeking to do. This is not about drawing a closed circle
around a particular club. To the contrary, It’s about
ensuring we maintain an open, rules-based global
system that supports peace, prosperity and aspirations
for all sovereign nations. A world order safe for liberal
democracy, yes, to flourish, free from coercion, reinforced
through positive, collaborative and coordinated action.
We are facing heightened competition in the Indo-Pacific
region. We know that because we live here. The task is to
manage that competition. Competition does not have to
lead to conflict. Nor does competition justify coercion.
We need all nations to participate in the global system in
ways that foster development and cooperation. Australia
stands ready to engage in dialogue with all countries on
shared challenges, including China when they are ready
to do so with us.
Let me turn to the areas where I believe liberal
democracies should be stepping up with coordinated
action.
Open societies, open economies and
rules-based order
The first is supporting open societies, open economies
and our rules-based order. The foundation for deeper
cooperation amongst liberal democracies lies precisely
in the shared beliefs and binding values we strive to live
by. Our belief that open, pluralistic societies provide
the fundamental freedoms and rich opportunities our
28 Australian Polity