 | |
 Australia |  Zimbabwe |
|---|---|
| Diplomatic mission | |
| Embassy of Australia, Harare | Embassy of Zimbabwe, Canberra |
| Envoy | |
| Ambassador Bronte Moules | Ambassador Joe Tapera Mhishi |
Foreign relations exist between Australia and Zimbabwe. Both countries have full embassy level diplomatic relations. [1] Australia maintains an embassy in Harare, [2] and Zimbabwe maintains an embassy in Canberra. [3]
Australia |  Southern Rhodesia |
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Australia |  Rhodesia |
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Australia |  Rhodesia |
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The nations of Australia and Zimbabwe both have their origins in colonies established by the British as part of their empire in the Georgian and Victorian eras. While Australia experienced significant amounts of white immigration from Europe (beginning in the 19th century), Zimbabwe was only settled by Europeans in the 1890's and the white population of Zimbabwe always remained a minority. The colony of Southern Rhodesia was granted self-governing status in 1923, but was not granted dominion status, unlike Australia or South Africa. Australia had a limited early trading relationship with Rhodesia, with a small Trade Office established in Salisbury in 1954, and in 1955 Australia signed a trade agreement with the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. In 1964-65, the last year prior to the Rhodesian unilateral declaration of independence, Rhodesian exports to Australia were valued at £1.2 million, comprising mostly tobacco (74%), and ferroalloys (14%); while Australian exports to Rhodesia were valued at £2 million, comprising mostly wheat (50%) and tallow (10%). [4]
The colony of Rhodesia eventually broke away from the British Empire in 1965, with the white-minority government of Ian Smith issuing a Unilateral Declaration of Independence as the state of Rhodesia. This new state of Rhodesia, despite gaining unofficial support from apartheid South Africa and Estado Novo Portugal (until 1974), failed to gain any international recognition and became increasingly isolated. The Australian government of Robert Menzies did not officially recognise the declaration, noting "there can be no diplomatic recognition by the Australian Government of a government so formed." [5] Despite this, several backbench government MPs visited Rhodesia in a private capacity following the UDI (Dr Wylie Gibbs, James Killen, Ian Pettitt and Wilfrid Kent Hughes in 1967 and David Connolly in 1976). [6] [7] [8]
Despite the federal government's decision to not formally recognise Smith's regime, prior to the election of the Whitlam government in 1972, Australia was one of the few countries to provide Rhodesia with diplomatic support. This was motivated by some groups of the population being sympathetic towards white Rhodesians. The Australian Government's support included issuing several Rhodesian diplomats with Australian passports during 1967 and 1968 and tolerating the Rhodesia Information Centre, the Rhodesian Government's unofficial diplomatic mission in Australia. Australia also abstained during some votes on United Nations measures that targeted Rhodesia. [9] The Rhodesia Information Centre and Rhodesia-Australia Association were the main organisations that advocated in support of the white Rhodesian regime in Australia, but media coverage of the Rhodesian Government was almost entirely negative. [10]
In 1966, the Rhodesian Government established an office of the Rhodesian Information Service in Melbourne, before moving in 1967 to Sydney at 9 Myrtle Street, Crows Nest. [11] However from 1972, following a change in government, the Australian federal Labor government of Gough Whitlam in Canberra sought to close the office. [12] In 1973, the federal government attempted to cut post and telephone links to the Centre, but this was ruled illegal by the full bench of the High Court ( Bradley v. The Commonwealth (1973) 128 CLR 557). [13] [14] Later in 1973, the NSW Corporate Affairs Commission attempted to cancel the registration of the Rhodesia Information Centre on the basis that its name implied official connection to the unrecognised Rhodesian government, and on 12 June 1974 the NSW Court of Appeal upheld this decision, which resulted in the office officially registering as the "Flame Lily Centre", although was still generally referred to as the Rhodesian Information Service. [15] [16] The office remained open despite further efforts to close it under the succeeding government of Malcolm Fraser. It was closed by the Zimbabwean Government in May 1980. [17] [18] [19]
During the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 1979 held in Lusaka, Zambia, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser was instrumental in convincing the then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to withhold British recognition of the government of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, prompting Britain to host the Lancaster House Agreement at which full independence and majority rule for Zimbabwe was agreed upon. [20] During the implementation period of the Lancaster House Agreement and ceasefire, Australia maintained the second largest official presence in Rhodesia, after Britain. On 21 December 1979, Australia lifted its economic sanctions on Rhodesia, and contributed a contingent of 152 Australian soldiers (under the command of Colonel Kevin Cole) to the 1300-person Commonwealth Ceasefire Monitoring Force (alongside the United Kingdom, Fiji, Kenya and New Zealand), which was present in the country from 23 December 1979 to 5 March 1980. [4]
An Australian Liaison Office (headed by career diplomat Charles Mott as the Special Representative) was established in Salisbury on 23 December 1979 to "assist the Ceasefire Monitoring Contingent and election observers with political support and advice, and to serve as a direct point of contact between the Australian Government and the British Authorities in Salisbury." [4] Senior Australian diplomat, Mick Shann, was appointed to the Commonwealth team observing the 1980 Southern Rhodesian general election, and Australia also sent a national observer group for the election held in February 1980. [21] In its report of 11 March 1980 the group noted that "freedom and fairness in elections are not absolute" and concluded "that in all the circumstances the 1980 Rhodesian elections achieved a sufficiently high level on the scale (of freedom and fairness) to be described as free and fair". [4]
In recognition of Fraser's contribution to Zimbabwean independence, the new Zimbabwean Prime Minister, Robert Mugabe, invited Fraser to attend Zimbabwe's independence celebrations in Salisbury on 17–18 April 1980. [22] Fraser met with Mugabe on 18 April, announcing $5 million of assistance to the new country, and noted: "There have been times when peace in Zimbabwe has seemed an unattainable goal. However, it is now a reality which will permit the energies of the people of this country to be directed towards a better life for everyone, with opportunities for all. Australia wishes Mr Mugabe every success in the difficult task ahead of him." [23]
Australia established a High Commission in Salisbury on independence in 1980 by upgrading the existing Liaison Office, with Jeremy Hearder as the first High Commissioner. Zimbabwe established a High Commission in Canberra in 1988, with Dr. Eubert Mashaire as the first High Commissioner. [24] Later Zimbabwean representatives included Lucas Pande Tavaya (1990–1994), and Professor Hasu Patel (1994–2000). [25] [26]
In October 1991, Prime Minister Bob Hawke visited Harare as part of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Hawke met President Mugabe and advocated for the Zimbabwe government's approval of the Hartley platinum mine proposed by BHP. [27] [28] On his visit, Hawke expressed to parliament:
My short bilateral visit to Zimbabwe at the invitation of President Mugabe was a particular pleasure for me. In part, President Mugabe's invitation was a mark of appreciation for the role which Australia played in the long and difficult process of securing Zimbabwe's independence - and I pay tribute here to the part which my predecessor Mr Malcolm Fraser played in this; for the support we offered through our peacekeeping forces and election observers in the transition period; and for our aid and assistance in the immediate aftermath of independence and since.... I was heartened by the commitment to multi-party democracy in Zimbabwe which President Mugabe evinced in our discussions. [29]
In 2014, when being interviewed by Dr Sue Onslow of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, Hawke later expressed his view of having met Mugabe: "I hated him. He’s one of the worst human beings I’ve ever met. He treated black and white with equal contempt. He was a horrible human being." [30]
Relations between the two countries began to sour when the government in Zimbabwe began its controversial land reform programme, occupying farms owned by members of Zimbabwe's white minority, sometimes by force. Following evidence of violence and intimidation in the 2002 Presidential election, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, alongside South African president, Thabo Mbeki, and the Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo, led efforts which resulted in Zimbabwe's suspension (and eventual voluntary departure) from the Commonwealth of Nations in 2002–2003. [31] The fourth Zimbabwean high commissioner in Canberra, Florence Chitauro (2001–2006), became the first ambassador in 2003 following Zimbabwe's departure from the Commonwealth, and in December 2003 was summoned to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to explain comments she made about Howard to the effect that he was "acting like a dictator" as chair of the Commonwealth action group on Zimbabwe. [32] [33] [34]
In an unusually blunt declaration in 2007, Prime Minister Howard described Robert Mugabe as a "grubby dictator". [35] Howard also called for other African countries to put pressure on Zimbabwe to crack down on the increasingly autocratic Zimbabwean government. [36] Sporting links between the two countries were also disrupted, with the Howard government banning the Australian cricket team from taking part in a scheduled tour of the country, citing the propaganda boost that it would provide for the Mugabe régime. [35]
Howard's successor as Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, was also critical of the Zimbabwean Government. Before the 2007 election, he criticised the People's Republic of China for providing "soft loans" to the Zimbabwean Government, [37] and later offered aid to Zimbabwe only if the 2008 elections in that country were "fair". [38] In December 2013 the Zimbabwean Ambassador to Australia since 2010, Jacqueline Zwambila, resigned and sought asylum in Australia due to fears of arrest should she return to Zimbabwe due to her links with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and the official opposition. [39] [40]
On 22 November 2017, following Mugabe's resignation as President following a coup d'état, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop noted that Australia "welcomes the resignation of Zimbabwe’s Leader Robert Mugabe after 37 years of increasingly authoritarian and oppressive rule. His resignation provides an opportunity for Zimbabwe to establish proper conditions for free and fair elections to take place and to transition to an inclusive, peaceful constitutional democracy." [41] With the inauguration of a new President, Emmerson Mnangagwa, the outgoing Australian Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Suzanne McCourt, met with the president and later commented to Zimbabwe state media that the meeting was a positive sign of improving relations between the two countries. [42]
With the voluntary departure of Zimbabwe from Commonwealth of Nations on 7 December 2003, the high commissioner became an ambassador.
Following Zimbabwean independence, bilateral trade between the two countries grew slowly. By 2007, this trade was valued at $12 million Australian dollars annually. By far the most valuable export from Zimbabwe to Australia was unprocessed tobacco, but construction materials and passenger motor vehicles were also exported. Australian exports to Zimbabwe included machinery, toys, games, sporting goods, and pottery. Despite the variety of goods being traded, neither country was a principal trading partner of the other, with Australia being ranked 34th in terms of merchandise exported by Zimbabwe, accounting for only 0.2% of total exports. [43]
In 2002, the Howard government in Australia imposed targeted sanctions against members of the Zimbabwean government in protest against the deteriorating political situation in Zimbabwe. The sanctions were extended and strengthened in 2007. [44] These sanctions have included restrictions on travel to and through Australia for certain members of the Zimbabwean government, suspension of all non-humanitarian aid, and prohibitions on defence links. [45] The Rudd government in 2008 considered further sanctions against Zimbabwe, with foreign minister Stephen Smith declaring that "I've made it clear that we are open to consider more sanctions ... We are currently giving active consideration to that issue." [46]
At the 2006 Australian census, 20,158 people listed themselves as having been born in Zimbabwe. Of these, ten thousand (or roughly 50%) had arrived since 2001. [52] The 2011 Census recorded 30,252 Zimbabwe-born people in Australia, an increase of 50.1% from 2006, with the largest populations in Western Australia (9817), Queensland (8341), and New South Wales (5639). [53]
Until roughly 2,000 years ago, what would become Zimbabwe was populated by ancestors of the San people. Bantu inhabitants of the region arrived and developed ceramic production in the area. A series of trading empires emerged, including the Kingdom of Mapungubwe and Kingdom of Zimbabwe. In the 1880s, the British South Africa Company began its activities in the region, leading to the colonial era in Southern Rhodesia.
Rhodesia, officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979. During this fourteen-year period, Rhodesia served as the de facto successor state to the British colony of Southern Rhodesia, and in 1980 it became modern day Zimbabwe.
Ian Douglas Smith was a Rhodesian politician, farmer, and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia from 1964 to 1979. He was the country's first leader to be born and raised in Rhodesia, and led the predominantly white government that unilaterally declared independence from the United Kingdom in November 1965 in opposition to the UK's demands for the implementation of majority rule as a condition for independence. His 15 years in power were defined by the country's international isolation and involvement in the Rhodesian Bush War, which pitted the Rhodesian Security Forces against the Soviet- and Chinese-funded military wings of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU).
Zimbabwe Rhodesia, alternatively known as Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, also informally known as Zimbabwe or Rhodesia, was a short-lived sovereign state that existed from 1 June 1979 to 18 April 1980, though lacked international recognition. Zimbabwe Rhodesia was preceded by another state named the Republic of Rhodesia and was briefly under a British-supervised transitional government sometimes referred to as a reestablished Southern Rhodesia, which according to British constitutional theory had remained the lawful government in the area after Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) in 1965. About three months later, the re-established colony of Southern Rhodesia was granted internationally-recognized independence within the Commonwealth as the Republic of Zimbabwe.
Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) was a statement adopted by the Cabinet of Rhodesia on 11 November 1965, announcing that Rhodesia a British territory in southern Africa that had governed itself since 1923, now regarded itself as an independent sovereign state. The culmination of a protracted dispute between the British and Rhodesian governments regarding the terms under which the latter could become fully independent, it was the first unilateral break from the United Kingdom by one of its colonies since the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776. The UK, the Commonwealth, and the United Nations all deemed Rhodesia's UDI illegal, and economic sanctions, the first in the UN's history, were imposed on the breakaway colony. Amid near-complete international isolation, Rhodesia continued as an unrecognised state with the assistance of South Africa and Portugal.
The Lancaster House Agreement refers to an agreement signed on 21 December 1979 in Lancaster House, following the conclusion of a constitutional conference where different parties discussed the future of Zimbabwe Rhodesia, formerly known as Rhodesia. The agreement effectively concluded the Rhodesian Bush War. It also marked the nullification of Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence, as British colonial authority was to be restored for a transition period, during which free elections under supervision by the British government would take place. Crucially, ZANU and ZAPU, the political wings of ZANLA and ZIPRA, would be permitted to stand candidates in the forthcoming elections. This was however conditional to compliance with the ceasefire and the verified absence of voter intimidation.
The Rhodesian Bush War also known as the Second Chimurenga as well as the Zimbabwean War of Independence, was a civil conflict from July 1964 to December 1979 in the unrecognised country of Rhodesia.
White Zimbabweans, also known as Rhodesians, are Zimbabwean people of European descent. In linguistic, cultural, and historical terms, these Zimbabweans of European ethnic origin are mostly English-speaking descendants of British settlers. A small minority are either Afrikaans-speaking descendants of Afrikaners from South Africa or those descended from Greek, Portuguese, Italian, and Jewish immigrants.
The Internal Settlement was an agreement which was signed on 3 March 1978 between Prime Minister of Rhodesia Ian Smith and the moderate African nationalist leaders comprising Bishop Abel Muzorewa, Ndabaningi Sithole and Senator Chief Jeremiah Chirau. After almost 15 years of the Rhodesian Bush War, and under pressure from the sanctions placed on Rhodesia by the international community, and political pressure from South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the Rhodesian government met with some of the internally based moderate African nationalist leaders in order to reach an agreement on the political future for the country.
The prime minister of Zimbabwe was a political office in the government of Zimbabwe that existed on two occasions. The first person to hold the position was Robert Mugabe from 1980 to 1987 following independence from the United Kingdom. He took office when Southern Rhodesia became the Republic of Zimbabwe on 18 April 1980. This position was abolished when the constitution was amended in 1987 and Mugabe became president of Zimbabwe, replacing Canaan Banana as the head of state while also remaining the head of government. The office of prime minister was restored in 2009 and held by Morgan Tsvangirai until the position was again abolished by the 2013 Constitution of Zimbabwe.
Lieutenant General George Peter Walls was a Rhodesian soldier. He served as the Head of the Armed Forces of Rhodesia during the Rhodesian Bush War from 1977 until his exile from the country in 1980.
Zimbabwe and the Commonwealth of Nations have had a controversial and stormy diplomatic relationship. Zimbabwe is a former member of the Commonwealth, having withdrawn in 2003, and the issue of Zimbabwe has repeatedly taken centre stage in the Commonwealth, both since Zimbabwe's independence and as part of the British Empire.
The Fraser government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. It was made up of members of a Liberal–Country party coalition in the Australian Parliament from November 1975 to March 1983. Initially appointed as a caretaker government following the dismissal of the Whitlam government, Fraser won in a landslide at the resulting 1975 Australian federal election, and won substantial majorities at the subsequent 1977 and 1980 elections, before losing to the Bob Hawke–led Australian Labor Party in the 1983 election.
The modern political history of Zimbabwe starts with the arrival of white people to what was dubbed Southern Rhodesia in the 1890s. The country was initially run by an administrator appointed by the British South Africa Company. The prime ministerial role was first created in October 1923, when the country achieved responsible government, with Sir Charles Coghlan as its first Premier. The third premier, George Mitchell, renamed the post prime minister in 1933.
Relations between the UK and Zimbabwe have been complex since the latter's independence in 1980. The territory of modern Zimbabwe had been colonised by the British South Africa Company in 1890, with the Pioneer Column raising the Union Jack over Fort Salisbury and formally establishing company, and by extension, British, rule over the territory. In 1920 Rhodesia, as the land had been called by the company in honour of their founder, Cecil Rhodes, was brought under jurisdiction of the Crown as the colony of Southern Rhodesia. Southern Rhodesia over the decades following its establishment would slowly be populated by large numbers of Europeans emigrants who came to form a considerable diaspora, largely consisting of Britons but also smaller groups of Italians, Greeks and Afrikaners. A settler culture that had already existed since the time of company would come to cement fully and the white population began to identify as Rhodesians, often in conjunction with British/Afrikaner/Southern European identities of their ancestors. Southern Rhodesia would go on to participate heavily in both the First and Second wars, providing soldiers and military equipment to the British war effort.
Bradley v Commonwealth, also referred to as the Rhodesian Information Centre case, is a 1973 High Court of Australia case. It was brought by Denzil Bradley against Australia following the Postmaster-General of Australia cutting off telephones and postal service to the Rhodesian Information Centre that he operated. The court ruled on a 3–2 majority that the Postmaster-General lacked the power to arbitrarily stop providing services.
The Rhodesia Information Centre (RIC), also known as the Rhodesian Information Centre, the Rhodesia Information Service, the Flame Lily Centre and the Zimbabwe Information Centre, represented the Rhodesian government in Australia from 1966 to 1980. As Australia did not recognise Rhodesia's independence, it operated on an unofficial basis.
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