Year 10: Military - US/Australia Alliance

1. Who is Steven Smith and what important role does he play for the Australian Government? Steven Smith is the Australian Defence Minister. His role is to regulate the armed forces in a sovereign's land.
2. What is the Brookings Institution where Mr. Smith delivered his speech? The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organisation in Washington DC. It conducts research and education in social sciences, economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, global economy and development.
3. What role does the Australia/US Alliance play in Australia's 'strategic and security arrangements'? Australia can depend on America for support should Australia be threatened by a foreign power. With America as an ally, Australia is not a desirable place to even think of attacking because that would mean taking on America.
4. What is important about Australia's global location for this alliance? Australia is in the Asia-Pacific, the world's new centre of gravity as military, political, economic and strategic influence changes.
5. What contributions has Australia made to this alliance for the last 50 years? Australia has supported the US in many things like intelligence gathering, early-missile warnings and submarine and satellite communications.
6. What did the minister say about the Australian companies who do business with the US? There are 9000 Australian companies doing business in America. They include the largest shopping centre owner and 20 of their largest banks. They also pay $70,000 per annum to their employees there.
7. Why does the minister point out this information about this company? What does it highlight about the relationship between Australia and the US? The minister points this out to show that Australia is an ally that helps not just militarily but economically. It shows that the Australia and US relationship is more than just helping each other in fights.
8. What is the country central to Australia's relationships in the region? Australia is trying to make good relationships with China.
9. What is Australia trying to foster with this country? Australia is trying to develop strong military and defence relationships with China. They are also trying to make them come out in a harmonious environment.
10. Why do you think that this is important to Australia? Because China is the superpower in the Pacific and so it is a good idea to ally yourself with the superpowers of the world.
11. What is the US planning on locating in Australia? Where? Why? America is planning on positioning military hardware and personnel in Australia. They are doing this so that they can be positioned to respond faster to humanitarian aid and disaster relief and to other situations in the region.
12. What implications does this have on the coordination between Australian and American forces? It means that Australian and American forces will be working closer together and in tandem to each other.

Year 10: Immigration

1. What is an asylum seeker? A person who has applied for asylum from a country that he or she is not a citizen of because they have something that is a threat to their lives from the country they came from whether it be political, military, religious or because of their nationality. They hope to gain refugee status.
2. What reasons would they leave their country and come to Australia? Their country may have a corrupt government, very poor living conditions, very aggressive and dangerous groups like militias and terrorist organisations threatening them. They want to come to Australia because we have a stable government, good living conditions and they have an oppurtunity at a good and safe life here.
3. What reasons will allow them to be approved for asylum? If their life/freedom is under threat from where they came from and if their human rights are under threat as well.
4. From what countries are most asylum seekers coming? Afghanistan, Sudan, Somalia, Middle East, South -east Asia.

1. What is the deal between Australia and Malaysia? (What are the numbers of people being 'swapped'?) Australia and Malaysia have signed an asylum seeker swap deal. Australia will send 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia in return for 4000 genuine refugees whose cases have been verified by the UN Refugee Agency.
2. What rights will they have in Malaysia which will allow them to support themselves? They will be treated with respect and dignity and have human right protected. They will have medical assistance provided and community education made available. They  will have the chance to work.
3. How does Malaysia normally treat illegal immigrants? They round them up and throw them into detention centres. Some harsh punishments associate with them is that they cane them them as well.
4. Are children being sent to Malaysia? Yes, but they will have access to education and medical assistance.
5. What is going to happen to the processing of the 500+ people currently in Australia who have arrived from the 7th of May? They will have their claims processed in Australia.
6. What do refugee advocates worry about for the 800 asylum seekers? They worry that the government can't guarantee the human rights safeguards for the asylum seekers and that the asylum seekers may come to harm. For example the asylum seekers may be caned. They also bought up the occasion when an Australian citizen with their passport was taken to a detention centre saying that if the government can;t protect one of their own citizens, how can they protect the asylum seekers?
7. What is the goal of this 'swap' program? To stop the boats that are bringing in the illegal immigrants. To decrease the number of deaths that occur when these smuggling ships crash or ans accident happens.
8. Do you think that it will work? Why/why not? I think it will work because people will still get an oppurtunity at a new life in a more stable country but they won't be coming to Australia anymore because they know they'll just be sent to Malaysia.

Year 10: Monday 25/7 Period 4

1. What title does Kevin Rudd have in the Australian Government? Explain what this role entails. Kevin Rudd is the Australian Foreign Minister. This means that he deals with affairs between Australia and other countries.
2. What is Kevin Rudd's concern? Kevin Rudd is concerned about North Korea's enriched uranium weapons prgram and the tthreat it poses to Australia. North Korea has been working on the Taepodong-2 long range missiles which could be used to hit Northern Australia.
3. What forum was he at to express his concerns? He was at the ASEAN regional forum.
4. What actions have North Korea performed recently which have Rudd alarmed and the region lacking stability? They torpedoed a South Korean naval frigate, shelled civilians’ homes across the border  and defied two UN Security Council resolutions by pursuing an enriched uranium weapons program.
5. What is a 'direct threat' to Australia according to Rudd? A direct threat is the new nuclear capabilities that North Korea and how they can use those capabilities against Australia.
6. What do you think that Rudd is trying to accomplish diplomatically by calling out his North Korean counterpart publicly? How does this relate to Australia's relationship and role in the region? Kevin Rudd is trying to stop the North Koreans with their nuclear weapons developments and make everyone well aware of what they are doing. Australia is trying to force North Korea out into the open about their nucler weapons program. The relationship that Australia has had with North Korea has always been one of Australia restricting North Korea's nuclear program and trying to get them to talk with South Korea. It further reinforces Australia's role as a power in the Pacific.
7. How does this relate to Australia's relationship to major allies? It improves Australia's relationships because Australia is working in the better interests of allies like the US to make sure that North Korea doesn't get a fully running nuclear program.

Australian Aid

• In the past five years, Australia's foreign aid budget has doubled.
• Last year, Kevin Rudd announced a review of Australia's overseas aid program by a number of experts.
• Some aid programs like the Indonesian floods are obvious examples of aid but this particular situation only accounts for 7% of the budget.
• The vast bulk of aid is aimed at overcoming long-term poverty.
• Poverty is decreasing. In 1981, 54 per cent of the world's people lived in extreme poverty. By 2005 only 29% of people lived in extreme poverty.
• Aid is not actually helping these people, it is their economic growth as these 'developing countries' begin to catch up to the 'developed world'.
• An example of Australia's attempts at Aid are the Torres Strait where, for nearly 40 years, Australia has been sending aid there but it is no better off.
• Aid programs build schools and other important facilities but the developing countries already know that they have to construct these facilities.

• Australians like to see Indonesia as a poor nation that needs help but Indonesia's GDP is a lot higher than Australia's.

I think the author is trying to present the idea that countries like Australia have been sending aid to these developing countries for so long that they can't see that they don't really need our help. The author has shown that projects that have gone for decades have done very little and that when the developing countries are allowed to develop they begin to do very well for themselves.

Australia is giving more aid because they want to impress certain countries. The aid project in Africa and the Caribbean is all for Australia's UN Security Council bid and the big program in Afghanistan is aimed at impressing Washington. Impressing and securing these things that are of interest and importance to the government is a benefit to giving aid but the negatives are that this is a lot of money that the Australian government could be spending on internal affairs and is money that they won't be getting back because the developing countries wouldn't be able to pay it back.