1.1(14) Public diplomacy and communication

Overview

The department’s public diplomacy programs promoted a positive image and perceptions of contemporary Australia internationally. We ensured programs were strategically focused on economic diplomacy and reached broad constituencies, including through cultural diplomacy initiatives. People-to-people links were strengthened through our international media and cultural visits, effective delivery of Australia Awards Scholarships and our deepening alumni engagement.

We contributed to informed coverage of Australia’s policies and programs by engaging actively with Australian and international media. We provided strategic communications services, a suite of online platforms and an expanded social media presence to support portfolio ministers and the parliamentary secretary in their domestic advocacy of Australia’s foreign, trade and aid priorities.

International public diplomacy

We supported a diverse and high quality program of events throughout Vietnam to conclude the anniversary celebrations of 40 years of diplomatic relations. Sponsored by the Australia International Cultural Council (AICC), the program used dance, music, sport, science and education to showcase Australian talents and strengthen bilateral partnerships.

Indonesia is the AICC focus country for 2014. The program began in March with a visit to Kupang by B2M, an RnB band from the Tiwi Islands. Other events included: the contemporary Indigenous art exhibition, Message Stick; a young writers’ literature exchange involving the Bali Emerging Writers Festival and the Emerging Writers Festival in Melbourne; Skate Jam, an innovative ‘learn to skate’ program run by Skateboarding Australia, which travelled to Bandung, Jakarta, Surabaya and Denpasar; and seven leading researchers from Australia took part in the Australia Indonesia Innovative Research Seminar Series.

Australia Awards

In 2013–14, Australia Awards expenditure was an estimated $310 million. The department offered 4451 new awards to recipients from 117 eligible developing countries.

The department increased engagement with scholars while they were in Australia and expanded alumni activity overseas, establishing a new alumni engagement unit.

We implemented a new branding strategy to build domestic and international awareness of the Australia Awards. We also increased our staff training and outreach to managing contractors and partners in Asia, Pacific, Africa, Caribbean and Latin America. We successfully promoted gender equity in the program, with 50 per cent of scholarships and 47 per cent of fellowships awarded to women. Australia Awards are also increasing support to awardees with disabilities, including to carers. (See also 1.9(5).)

Media and communications services

The department’s media liaison team in Canberra managed in a timely and professional manner over 4000 queries from domestic and international media organisations.

Consular matters, including cases involving Australians facing legal proceedings in China, North Korea, Egypt, Russia and Vietnam generated significant media interest, as did the department’s support for Australians affected by major incidents overseas, such as the disappearance of flight MH370. We encouraged media outlets to include messages on safe travel in their reporting on consular matters.

We also managed a high volume of media queries about the Government’s humanitarian response to natural disasters overseas, such as Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines and the flooding in Solomon Islands.

The department’s strategic communications effort supported key foreign, trade and aid policy initiatives, including the reprioritisation of the aid program and associated performance framework and the conclusion of the Korea–Australia Free Trade Agreement and the Japan–Australia Economic Partnership Agreement.

The department managed media arrangements for high-level visits, including the Prime Minister’s attendance at the East Asia Summit and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, and the bilateral visit of the Prime Minister and Trade and Investment Minister to China. We also managed media for the Foreign Minister’s launches of the New Colombo Plan and the Smartraveller III campaign.

We issued 404 media releases and public statements for the department, portfolio ministers and parliamentary secretaries.

The department’s internal communications focused on keeping staff well-informed about the integration process and on implementation of the department’s Capability Action Plan. We consolidated the department’s policies and training courses on media engagement and social media to improve skills and capabilities in these areas across the integrated department.

Website services and social media

The department delivered high quality information to the public on its websites, with www.dfat.gov.au receiving 6.8 million visitors. Nearly 100 websites across the department’s global network received around nine million visitors in total, with Beijing the most visited embassy website. More than 30 embassies published content in English and the local language.

As part of an ongoing three-year modernisation of the department’s online presence, websites for ministers were relaunched on upgraded platforms to ensure their continued sustainability.

A key achievement was the consolidation of two intranets on a new platform ensuring staff had continued access to key policy, corporate and financial information (see 3.1). Work continues on all sites to meet the requirements of the Government’s Web Accessibility National Transition Strategy.

The department’s use of social media continued to expand. By end of the year, the department had 73 social media accounts in 44 countries, an increase of 62 per cent over the previous year. We embraced innovative social media use across the network, with Jakarta Embassy hosting a successful online Q&A on Facebook with the Ambassador for Women and Girls.

The number of followers of the departmental Twitter account nearly doubled during the year to 28 000, making it the third most followed Australian Government account.

The department expanded its multimedia presence by increasing the number of videos on the department’s YouTube channel to 138; this includes 20 new videos in the Our Ambassadors series.

Trade advocacy

The department used new media, including social media and interactive websites, to boost the communication of Australia’s trade policies. Subscriptions to our weekly trade newsletter, Trade Talk, grew by 200 per cent. The department launched its first interactive trade website to complement the Trade at a Glance publication. The department promoted the signature of the Korea–Australia Free Trade Agreement and the Japan–Australia Economic Partnership Agreement receiving considerable public interaction with our related tweets and tens of thousands of new visitors accessing the agreements’ promotional material on the DFAT website.

The department provided detailed advice on trade and economic statistics to ministers’ offices, other agencies, business and the general public. Our 11 statistical publications were freely available on the website. We managed almost 2700 enquiries on trade and economic statistics in 2013–14, and continued our use of Twitter to deliver more timely and user-friendly updates on Australian trade issues, to a larger online audience.

Treaties

The department maintained the Australian Treaties Database, an online public resource for researching treaties to which Australia is a signatory or party. The database can be accessed at www.dfat.gov.au/treaties. We also maintained the Australian Treaties Library, which makes available the texts of all treaties Australia has entered into, and conducted treaty training for Commonwealth and state officials.

Special Visits Program

Our special visits program brings emerging leaders and opinion-shapers to Australia for meetings in their areas of interest with government, business and community figures. It gives participants an understanding of Australia’s policy goals and the public policy environment in which decisions are made. The special visits program builds Australia’s network of international foreign and trade contacts providing the bedrock for lasting engagement. Thirty-three individuals visited Australia under the program in 2013–14.

International media visits and award programs

The department funded and organised 10 international media visits (IMVs) to Australia, comprising 45 journalists from 30 countries. The IMV program is aligned with the department’s foreign policy, aid and trade priorities and seeks to generate accurate and informed international reporting on Australia.

A major focus of IMVs throughout the year was to support Australia’s Presidency of the G20. Other IMVs included senior Indian editors, ASEAN (to coincide with the Secretary General’s visit to Australia and the 40th anniversary of Australia–ASEAN relations) and the first ever sports diplomacy visit. All the IMVs generated significant and relevant international media commentary on Australia.

Through an internship program with the ABC, three journalists from the Indo–Pacific region came to Australia to develop their journalism skills. The department also supported the annual Elizabeth O’Neill Journalism Award—created in memory of a departmental officer who died in the Yogyakarta plane crash in 2007—with a two-week exchange between Indonesian and Australian journalists.

Australian Sports Outreach Program

The Australian Sports Outreach Program (ASOP), jointly managed by the Australian Sports Commission and funded by the department, continued to deliver positive public diplomacy outcomes for Australia. Through ASOP, posts in the Pacific region supported disadvantaged community groups to improve health and social inclusion through sport.

Cultural diplomacy

The department used the international cultural visits program to improve commercial opportunities in overseas markets for our domestic arts industry by strengthening institutional links and professional networks. We supported visits to Australia by artists, curators and directors of cultural institutions from Indonesia, Taiwan, Cambodia, Brazil, China and Republic of Korea.

The department delivered programs designed to raise the profile of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and culture internationally. We supported over 40 Indigenous-specific events overseas, including the artist exchange program Kerjasama—Indigenous Arts Residencies in Regional Australia and Indonesia—run in collaboration with Asialink. The department also supported Indigenous musicians to perform in festivals in South Africa and the Pacific.

We hosted the first Indigenous international cultural visits program. Three North American festival producers visited the Australian Performing Arts Market to witness the professionalism and creativity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture makers and their export-ready cultural products such as theatre, music and dance works.

We celebrated NAIDOC Week in Canberra in July, highlighting the talents of emerging Indigenous musicians (see also Section 3).

The department promoted Australian screen content, industry expertise and Australian culture through film and generated opportunities for collaboration and cultural exchange. In partnership with Screen Australia, we supported delegations to international screen events including the Goa Film Bazaar and Australia China Documentary Forum. Other highlights included the Tropfest tour to South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya, and the third edition of our Brazil post’s annual Australian Film Festival.

We continued our partnership with Asialink and Musica Viva to support travelling exhibitions and performances to selected countries in Asia. Highlights included touring the visual arts exhibition Vertigo and accompanying workshops to Indonesia, Taiwan and South Korea, and the ensemble Typhoon to China.

Fostering people-to-people links

Reporting under the International Relations Grant Program can be found at Program 1.3.

Direct Aid Program

Reporting under the Direct Aid Program can be found at Program 1.9(4).

Publications register

The department produced 41 publications in 2013–14, which are available for sale in hard copy or free of charge online at http://www.dfat.gov.au/publications/. The list of publications is at Appendix 15.

Historical publications and research

The department continued its commitment to the production of publications on the history of Australia’s international relations.

The major volume published during the year was Documents on Australian Foreign Policy: Australia and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, 1945–1974.

Then Ambassador to the United States and later Secretary (1970–74), Sir Keith Waller (centre), signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Washington, 27 February 1970. Also present Deputy Director, US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, Philip Farley (left), and US Under Secretary of State, U. Alexis Johnson. [US Department of State/Robert H McNeill]

Other volumes in the Documents on Australian Foreign Policy series under preparation include Australia and Apartheid in South Africa and White Minority Rule in Rhodesia, 1950–1980; Australia in the interwar Period, 1920–1936 and Australia in War and Peace, 1914–1919. With the Australian National University, the University of Melbourne and the Crawford Fund, and supported by the Australian Research Council, the department commenced a biographical study of Sir John Crawford.

To assist departmental officers gain deeper historical insights into their work, the department convened a seminar series, ‘Historical Perspectives on Contemporary Policy Challenges’, involving speeches by academics and practitioners of diplomacy followed by questions and discussion.

Archival examination

During the year the department revised its processes for providing advice to the National Archives of Australia on the release of Commonwealth records subject to access requests under section 40 of the Archives Act 1983. We allocated additional resources to meet increased public demand for departmental files and the legislated transition of the closed access period from 30 years to 20 years.

We partnered with the National Archives of Australia to improve referral and examination processes, including implementing a ‘triage’ process and fast tracking of low sensitivity files, streamlining examination methods, and adopting a more efficient system of referral to other agencies.

Table 8: Records examined under the Archives Act 1983

	2011–12	2012–13	2013–14
Number of records examined	1,055	971	1,015
Number of folios contained in these records	208,219	196,171	231,597
Number of records released through the ‘triage’ process*	-	-	159
Records subject to review or legal appeal*	-	-	34

* additional information provided for the 2013–14 reporting period.

Freedom of information

The department finalised 268 freedom of information (FOI) applications, an increase of 48 from the previous year. We coordinated FOI consultation requests from other agencies, particularly concerning the international relations exemption under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act).

A significant proportion of applicants obtained access to their own personal information. We continued to see an increase in information requests covering complex and sensitive policy topics.

We finalised 10 applications to internally review the department’s primary FOI decisions. Six appeals to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner against an FOI decision were lodged in 2013–14. (See Section 3.)

Agencies subject to the FOI Act are required to publish information to the public as part of the Information Publication Scheme (IPS). This requirement is in Part II of the FOI Act and has replaced the former requirement to publish a section 8 statement in an annual report. Each agency must display on its website a plan showing what information it publishes in accordance with the IPS requirements.

The department published information, including relevant documents from AusAID, under the IPS contained in Part II of the FOI Act. The content is available at: www.dfat.gov.au/foi/ips.html.

Table 9: Requests processed under the Freedom of Information Act 1982

	2011–12	2012–13	2013–14
Requests for Information
Access granted in full	35	40	25
Access granted in part	84	90	105
Access refused or no documents found	28	32	45
Requests transferred, withdrawn or processed outside of FOI	57	58	93
Total finalised	204	220	268
Requests subject to review or legal appeal
Requests for internal review (s.54)	9	13	10
Appeals lodged with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (s.55)	0	0	0
Commonwealth Ombudsman	0	0	0
Requests for review lodged with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner	9	9	6

HV Evatt Library

The HV Evatt Library continued to support departmental officers by providing services in research and reference and enabling access to a collection of over 40 000 items, including over 2000 online resources, specialising in foreign relations, trade, aid and development.

Outlook

The department will support activities that promote Australia’s national interests, economic capabilities and political and social values. We will promote Australia’s commitment to economic diplomacy, build and leverage connections between people and institutions and draw on our cultural, education, science and sporting assets to promote understanding of contemporary Australia.

The department will maintain a whole-of-government approach to the promotion and support of the G20 Leaders Meeting in Brisbane in November 2014 and complementary G20 meetings throughout the year.

The department’s cultural diplomacy focus in 2015 will be on Turkey. The year-long program will reflect the diversity of our growing contemporary relationship and feature arts, education, sport, tourism and innovation sectors, supported by a trade and business program.