Content from the United States diplomatic cables leak has depicted Australia and related subjects extensively. The leak, which began on 28 November 2010, occurred when the website of WikiLeaks — an international new media non-profit organisation that publishes submissions of otherwise unavailable documents from anonymous news sources and news leaks — started to publish classified documents of detailed correspondence — diplomatic cables — between the United States Department of State and its diplomatic missions around the world. Since the initial release date, WikiLeaks is releasing further documents every day.
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During a meeting in March 2009, Kevin Rudd, then-Prime Minister of Australia, advised Clinton to be in a position to use force against China "if everything goes wrong".[1]
During that same meeting, Rudd described to Clinton that China was "paranoid" about Taiwan and Tibet, characterised Chinese leaders as "sub-rational and deeply emotional" in their reactions to Taiwan, and stated that the goal of his plan for an "Asia-Pacific Community" was envisaged to weaken China's authority in the region and curb its dominance in regional diplomatic institutions.[1]
Australian Senator Don Farrell, a South Australian right-wing factional powerbroker, said he believes that Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia since 2010, was gunning for the prime ministership a year before Rudd's personal support in the polls collapsed.[2]
Rudd was critical of Australia's European allies in the Afghanistan campaign, accusing them of having "no common strategy for winning the war or winning the peace" and derided the contribution of France and Germany to the fight against the Taliban as "organising folk-dancing festivals".[3]
A cable from October 2008 recorded Rudd telling a group of visiting U.S. congressmen that "the national security establishment in Australia was very pessimistic about the long-term prognosis for Afghanistan".[4]
Australian special representative on Afghanistan and Pakistan, Ric Smith (a former secretary of the Australian Defence Department) described the mission in Afghanistan and Afghan government presence as a "wobbly three-legged stool". In December 2009 Smith questioned what the Australian Federal Police would be able to accomplish given the "train wreck" that they had to be given to work with in the Afghan National Police.[5]
Australian officials who briefed the U.S. embassy hinted at clashes between officials and ministers over its "apparent lack of progress".[3]
Australian Senator Mark Arbib (Australian Labor Party) was in regular contact with and acted as a 'protected' source and confidential contact for the U.S. government, providing inside information and commentary on the workings of the government and the Labor Party to officers at the U.S. Embassy, Canberra.[6][7][8]
A review of the first twelve months of the Rudd government in December 2008 by Robert McCallum, Jr., U.S. Ambassador to Australia:
In November 2009, the U.S. embassy delivered another assessment that:
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