Aus-CSCAP
The Australian Member Committee of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (Aus-CSCAP) was established by Strategic and Defence Studies Centre (SDSC) at the Australian National University, as one of the founding members of CSCAP.
Aus-CSCAP has some 120 members, including officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the Department of Defence, individuals from a dozen University and other research centres throughout Australia, Members of Parliament, journalists, and senior executives from Australian industry.
The Committee meets twice a year, to consider the major security issues in the region. Aus-CSCAP members are active in the various CSCAP Study Groups.
The biennial CSCAP General Conference has been an opportunity for Australia to influence the agenda of regional discussions and has been used in the past by the Australian Foreign Minister to make important keynote addresses in the region.
The network of officials, media, military and academic representatives that make up the membership of CSCAP provides Australia with an opportunity to influence attitudes and debate in the region on a range of foreign policy issues. We believe it also assists more broadly to build Australia into Asian regional processes. The CSCAP network has assisted the development, for instance of the 'Asialink Conversations' and also helped in inaugurating the Australia/New Zealand Dialogue with ASEAN-ISIS, the influential ASEAN network that had not in the past been open to such a formal relationship with Australia. Because of our CSCAP experience we were commissioned by the New Zealand Asia Foundation to prepare a report on the way Track II initiatives can contribute to regional engagement.