Paradiplomacy in Australia

As a three-tiered federal system, paradiplomacy in Australia is embedded in, at times, complex multilevel politics and institutions. State governments are highly engaged internationally – particularly in economic development and trade but also in a range of other policy domains. Australia is 86% urbanized, and while the local governments of major cities are well embedded in the ecosystem of transitional networks and have demonstrated notable leadership in areas such as climate change action, the pluralized system of local government, with no metropolitan authority in Melbourne and Sydney, creates limitations in their capacity to engage with global peers. The passing of Australia's Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Bill 2020 established a legal system where all subnational public entities need to report their foreign arrangements to the federal government, which has the capacity to veto those deemed unaligned with Australia's national interest. This system has raised questions regarding the constitutional allocation of foreign policy powers and the extent to which local autonomy and local democracy should influence the plural expression of Australian diplomacy. In particular, subnational diplomacy with China has come under increased scrutiny due to concerns regarding foreign interference from Australia's largest trading partner. As a high-income middle power with significant international ambitions, particularly in the Indo-Pacific, Australia has a great capacity to expand and professionalize its paradiplomatic practice, but doing so will require a revision of established norms and multilevel relations.