Making Australian Foreign Policy

April 24th, 2008 • Australia

I’m reading Gyngell and Wesley’s Making Australia Foreign Policy for an assignment, and it is a fascinating book. I’d actually love to get a copy for my bookshelf. It’s got heaps of insight in the making of Australian foreign policy, the running of DFAT and just some generally interesting facts and stats.

For example:

During 2005-06, DFAT made 40,357 representations to other governments and international organisations, attended 11,081 international meetings or negotiations, its 87 overseas posts produced 99,587 reporting cables, it presented 2,359 ministerial submissions and 23 Cabinet submissions, it wrote 138 speeches and produced 3,217 briefings all with a budget of $830 million.

In 2007, it had 1700 applicants for it’s graduate intake program (which had 28 positions). Most had Arts degrees (often in combination with another), 8 were lawyers, 7 had economics, business or commerce backgrounds, 1 had training in construction. They were aged from 21 to 34, with French the most widely spoken language but many Asian languages as well.

I also recently had lunch at the UK Consulate-General in Melbourne and heard from the head of the mission there who provided some insights into the British Foreign Office. It seems that their admittance process is decidedly more competitive than DFATs – starting with a psuedo-IQ test, ending with a 4 day boot camp – and most people who get in are ‘lifers’. As opposed to DFAT where, though it probably is one of the most competitive institutions to get a job at as a graduate, many people stay for about 3-5 years before going elsewhere for a bit and maybe returning later.

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Tags: Australia, bfo, career, dfat, foreign-policy, UK

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