[Australia]: Message to the United Kingdom [SEC=SECRET]

[Owen]

​

MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS​

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION: SECRET (ENCRYPTED)​

15 October 2004

Dear Foreign Secretary Ryan, Firstly I'd like to apologise for the lack of communication between Australia and the United Kingdom in recent years. We have been dealing with many regional challenges and growing relations with regional partners before looking abroad to our traditional allies in Europe and North America. As you may be aware, back in 2000 we agreed to host the Australia-United Kingdom Ministerial Consultations (AUKMIN) annually and we hosted our first event in March 2001 in Sydney. Unfortunately it has not been followed up and we did not have a meeting in 2002 or 2003. We do believe that it is paramount that we have another AUKMIN meeting promptly. There is still time to fulfil obligations to have a 2004 meeting, but we are happy to have it happen in 2005 instead. As we agreed to rotate it between Australia and the United Kingdom, it is now time for the United Kingdom to host these consultations which will be between ourselves and between our Minister for Defence, John Faulkner and your Secretary of State for Defence, Jason Green. We would also like to bring in our Minister for Trade, Simon Crean and your Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Charlotte Baker to the meeting. This is to begin negotiations for a more comprehensive trade agreement that would supersede the agreement reached in 1998, which we see as inadequete to bring together closer economic cooperation between our nations which have historically enjoyed very close trade relations. Australia was once the "bread basket" of the Empire, providing the motherland with much needed food and resources. We would also like to discuss proposals to have a Royal Visit to Australia in the near future. Australians love of the Royal Family and the Monarchy is waning as many see them putting Australia and other Commonwealth realms on the backburner. We don't wish to see this continue. I do look forward to hearing from you and hopefully we can start making some real progress on matters between our nations. Yours sincerely, Kevin Rudd.

Parliament House, CANBERRA, ACT 2600 Telephone: (02) 6277 7700​

Protective Marking:	Business Impact Level:	Compromise of Information Confidentiality:	Required to be Encrypted:
UNOFFICIAL	No Business Impact	No damage. This information does not form part of official duty.
OFFICIAL	Low Business Impact	No or insignificant damage. This is the majority of routine information.
OFFICIAL: Sensitive	Low to Medium Business Impact	Limited damage to an individual, organisation or government generally if compromised.
PROTECTED	High Business Impact	Damage to the national interest, organisations or individuals.
SECRET	Extreme Business Impact	Serious damage to the national interest, organisations or individuals.
TOP SECRET	Catastrophic Business Impact	Exceptionally grave damage to the national interest, organisations or individuals.

Jamie

 

[Jamie]

UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND
Security Classification: SECRET

To: Kevin Rudd Owen
Cc:
Subject: Re: Australia-United Kingdom Ministerial Consultations

Dear Mr Rudd,

Thank you for your email and reminder regarding the Ministerial Consultations. I concur about the importance of hosting AUKMIN, and one that will serve as stepping stone back in the right direction.

With that in mind, on behalf of the United Kingdom I would like to extend a formal invitation to you to attend the upcoming Australia-United Kingdom Ministerial Consultations which will be held in Edinburgh on the 15th January 2005.

Security arrangements will be in place and accommodation can be provided.

Please confirm your attendance at your earliest convenience, if you have any questions or require any specific requirements, please let me know.

Kindest Regards,
Emma Ryan

Emma Ryan | Foreign Secretary |

 

[Owen]

​

MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS​

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION: SECRET (ENCRYPTED)​

15 October 2004

Dear Foreign Secretary Ryan, That is perfectly acceptable to us. The Australian High Commission in London and Consulate-General in Edinburgh will be communication with the relevant authorities to arrange for security and they will also provide for the logistics of our movements in Scotland (i.e. vehicles). A small contingency of armed plain-clothed Australian Federal Police officers will accompany our delegation and we will be flying on Royal Australian Air Force aircraft to Edinburgh Airport. Yours sincerely, Kevin Rudd.

Parliament House, CANBERRA, ACT 2600 Telephone: (02) 6277 7700​

Protective Marking:	Business Impact Level:	Compromise of Information Confidentiality:	Required to be Encrypted:
UNOFFICIAL	No Business Impact	No damage. This information does not form part of official duty.
OFFICIAL	Low Business Impact	No or insignificant damage. This is the majority of routine information.
OFFICIAL: Sensitive	Low to Medium Business Impact	Limited damage to an individual, organisation or government generally if compromised.
PROTECTED	High Business Impact	Damage to the national interest, organisations or individuals.
SECRET	Extreme Business Impact	Serious damage to the national interest, organisations or individuals.
TOP SECRET	Catastrophic Business Impact	Exceptionally grave damage to the national interest, organisations or individuals.

Jamie