SYDNEY: Ex-Australian leader Kevin Rudd’s ambitious plans for an Asia-Pacific grouping on the lines of the European Union were “hastily rolled out” with little consultation, leaked cables showed on Friday.
The US embassy messages, released by the WikiLeaks website and published in Fairfax newspapers, indicate Rudd appointed veteran diplomat Richard Woolcott to promote the initiative just three hours before it was announced.
When Rudd unveiled his idea in a speech in Sydney on June 5, 2008, the US embassy cabled Washington that the plan was “hastily rolled out, with minimal consultations”, the report said.
“Most working-level contacts within the (Australian government) seem to have been caught off-guard by the PM’s announcement, with many embassies advising that they had received notification immediately before the speech and had not been consulted on the concept,” the embassy cable said.“Even Richard Woolcott only learnt of his role as the special envoy to carry the initiative forward some three hours before PM Rudd’s address.
“He told us June 5 the PM’s senior advisor had telephoned him at about 4:00 pm the previous day to ask if he would consent to spearhead the initiative, and when he remonstrated that he wanted an opportunity to discuss it further, was advised his name was already in the PM’s preprinted speech.” Rudd’s 18nation Asia-Pacific community was suggested as a broader alternative to APEC (AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation) and the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The idea was initially welcomed as a sign of greater Australian engagement but gained little traction in the region, and went unmentioned by the Mandarinspeaking former diplomat towards the end of his rule.
Future prospects for the plan are unclear, although Prime Minister Julia Gillard appeared to cast doubt on the proposal not long after deposing Rudd in June.
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