Which government level is responsible for foreign affairs and diplomacy? (variant 14) (14)

The federal government is responsible for Australia's foreign affairs and diplomacy. External affairs is a head of Commonwealth power under section 51(xxix) of the Constitution, and is administered primarily by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), supported by Australia's network of diplomatic missions and the Australian Defence Force.

DFAT runs about 117 diplomatic missions overseas, including high commissions (to Commonwealth countries), embassies (to other countries), and consulates. Major posts include the embassies in Washington, Beijing, Tokyo, Jakarta, and Paris, the high commissions in London, Wellington, and Singapore, and dozens of smaller posts across all regions of the world. The Australian ambassador or high commissioner in each capital represents the country to the host government, and Australia's permanent representatives to the United Nations (in New York and Geneva), the World Trade Organization, the OECD, the European Union, and ASEAN run the multilateral missions.

Australian foreign policy operates across several themes. The alliance with the United States under the ANZUS treaty (1951) is the central security relationship, deepened in 2021 through the AUKUS partnership with the United Kingdom and United States. The Quad (Australia, India, Japan, United States) is an Indo-Pacific grouping focused on regional stability and infrastructure. The Pacific Step-up framework, succeeded by the Pacific Engagement Strategy, prioritises Pacific Island states. The relationship with China combines trade interdependence with strategic competition.

Australia also engages multilaterally. The country was a founding member of the United Nations in 1945 and continues to contribute to peacekeeping (more than 65,000 Australians have served in 65 UN operations since 1947), to the World Health Organization, to international climate negotiations through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to international development through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the World Bank, and to international human rights bodies. The Australian ambassadors for ambassador for Climate Change, the ambassador for Cyber Affairs and Critical Technology, the ambassador for First Nations People, and the ambassador for Women and Girls lead specific thematic engagements. State and territory governments support foreign engagement through their own trade and investment offices in major markets but cannot make formal treaties or international agreements.