ABSTRACT
Australian governments have generally shied away from the discourse of human security, if one is to judge by major policy pronouncements. Unlike Norway, Japan or Canada, no major ministerial statement in the post–Cold War period has set out a foreign policy vision for Australia with human security as one of its distinguishing features. In his 2008 National Security Statement, Kevin Rudd described climate change as a ‘fundamental national security challenge’ for Australia. He went on to connect climate change with ‘unregulated population movements, declining food production, reductions in arable land, violent weather patterns and resulting catastrophic events’. By and large the Rudd government’s counter-terrorism blueprint followed in its predecessor’s footsteps, with only minor changes to the intelligence infrastructure or the legislative and regulatory framework shaped and expanded over the preceding few years.
