Balancing Act: 25 years of Australian international budgets

Australian foreign affairs leaders regularly emphasise the increasing need to use all tools of ‘statecraft’ in pursuing Australia’s interests. But how have successive Australian Governments managed the budget balancing act that this rhetoric implies?

In this brief, we find:

- In 1999, international budgets comprised around 10% of the Commonwealth budget; as of 2024, this percentage remains largely unchanged.

- Over the past 25 years, the Defence budget has consistently outweighed all other areas of funding; however, the clearest indicators of shifting policy priorities are seen in the increased budgets for the intelligence community, federal policing, and financing to low- and middle-income countries.

- Funding for Australian diplomatic and development initiatives has been erratic and lacks predictability, contrasting with the steady growth and extended projections seen in Defence and intelligence budgets. This pattern reflects a reliable trajectory for some aspects of Australian ‘statecraft’ but not for others.

- The policy rationale behind these shifting and sometimes divergent funding levels over the last 25 years is often unclear, posing a challenge to the Government’s goal of a balanced and integrated approach to international engagement.

These numbers prompt us to ask: Is Australia striking the right balance in our international engagement? Are our leaders putting their money where their mouths are? Specifically, what does this mean for Australia putting its best foot forward in low- and middle-income countries in the near region?

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