Annual Report 2019-20

Our Posts

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• DFAT posts
• State and territory offices
• Torres Strait Treaty Liaison Office
• Austrade-managed posts providing consular assistance

• Our posts include embassies, high commissions, multilateral missions, consulates-general, consulates and representative offices*

• We also managed 48 consulates headed by an honorary consul

Highlights 2019-20

1. Promote a stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific

   • Elevated our relationship with India, announcing a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership

   • Adapted Pacific Step-up, including the newly launched Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific and Pacific labour mobility, to support Pacific island countries to respond to COVID-19

   • Further enhanced our relationship with Vietnam, including work on an Australia–Vietnam Enhanced Economic Engagement Strategy

2. Pursue our economic, trade and investment opportunities

   • Ratified free trade agreements with Hong Kong, Indonesia and Peru and concluded negotiations on the text of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership

   • Used our global network to maintain critical supply chains during the pandemic

   • Helped Australian businesses to access commercial opportunities overseas and assisted them to respond to bushfires and COVID-19

3. Keep Australia and Australians safe and secure

   • Drove international cooperation on counter-terrorism in our region and beyond

   • Challenged disinformation and malicious cyber activity, and worked to support an open, free and secure cyberspace

   • Enhanced international participation in measures to counter human trafficking

4. Deliver an effective and responsive development assistance program

   • Launched Partnerships for Recovery to guide Australia’s whole-of-government development efforts in responding to COVID-19

   • Delivered urgent humanitarian assistance to Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu after Tropical Cyclone Harold

   • Pivoted gender equality programming to meet the immediate needs of women and girls in response to COVID-19

5. Advance global cooperation

   • Delivered a comprehensive audit of Australia’s multilateral engagement

   • Kept human rights at the forefront of our work, including through our engagement at the United Nations and in response to COVID-19

   • Partnered with other countries to secure an independent, impartial and comprehensive evaluation into COVID-19

6. Support Australians overseas

   • Delivered the largest and most complex consular operation in our history, under extensive lockdown conditions, helping over 26,600 Australians return

   • Provided accurate and reliable information to help Australians stay informed and prepared while overseas

   • Helped Australians affected by bushfires and COVID-19 with passports for identity and travel

7. Provide a secure and effective overseas presence

   • Established two new posts, in Koror (Palau) and Rarotonga (Cook Islands)

   • Built a prefabricated chancery in Sydney for our post in Rabat (Morocco) using Australian know-how and Australian jobs

   • Enabled remote working and rapid response support for whole-of-government staff across the global network

COVID-19 Response

As the impact of COVID-19 was felt in Australia and around the world, we pivoted our operations to support a comprehensive, agile and multi-faceted Australian Government response—often in challenging local lockdown circumstances. DFAT’s global network and offices in every state and territory were vital to supporting Australians stranded overseas and helping thousands to return to Australia. Our international expertise helped deliver critical medical supplies for Australians and for our Indo-Pacific neighbours.

Supporting Australians Overseas

• Supported
  26,600+
  Australians to
  return from
  90 countries on
  315 commercial
  flights—63 directly
  facilitated by
  government

• Responded to
  250,000+
  COVID-19-related
  phone calls across
  the diplomatic network
  including 75,000+
  to our emergency
  and consular call units

• 26m+
  likes, retweets, comments
  or shares of DFAT
  social media content
  during COVID-19

Supporting Australians at Home

• 300+
  DFAT staff and
  contractors deployed
  across the APS to
  boost frontline
  government services

• Led efforts to
  suspend Australian
  tariffs on products,
  such as medical
  devices and PPE

• Diplomatic efforts in
  collaboration with other
  agencies helped to secure
  critical PPE and medical
  supplies including over
  40% of all ventilators
  in Australian ICUs

Supporting Australia’s Economy and Business

• Supported delivery of Australia’s economic
  recovery package through the
  $1 billion
  COVID-19 Relief and Recovery Fund

• Worked with
  Export Finance Australia
  to establish the
  $500m
  COVID-19 Export Capital Facility
  to ensure trade-exposed
  Australian businesses affected by
  COVID-19 can access vital financing

Supporting Our Indo-Pacific Neighbours

• $280m
  redirected to health security,
  stability and economic recovery
  in the Pacific and Southeast Asia

• Supported the Australian
  Government’s visa changes to
  enable approximately
  8,000 Pacific workers to remain
  in Australia for a further
  12 months to continue working
  to support themselves and critical
  industries, including redeploying
  around 3,500 workers

• Working with our
  neighbours in the Pacific
  and Timor-Leste,
  
  facilitated movements of
  over 2,000 people and
  10 tonnes of essential
  supplies to 14 countries
  
  through the essential
  services and
  humanitarian corridor