International_Treaties

International treaties are agreements Australia has with other counties, mostly in the Asia-Pacific region but also all around the world. International treaties help Australia in many different ways, including security, social development and our economy. Some of the agreements are, The Colombo Plan, ANZUS, SEATO and APEC. All of these different agreements help/helped with different things. The Colombo Plan is to reduce economic inequality and help social development in the Asia-Pacific region. ANZUS is an agreement between Australia and New Zealand and Australia and the US (separately). ANZUS is to help with security; an attack on one country is an attack on all. So for example if Australia was under attack, the US and New Zealand would come and help us defend ourselves. SEATO is a group to help protect counties in South East Asia and the Pacific that felt threatened by communism. This is not so much of a problem now but during the war this was a very important treaty. Finally APEC, which stands for, Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation, helps all 21 countries involved, with trade. All these countries have different agreements with each other but the overall point is to help with the trade and economy within the country. ANZUS is a very important international treaty; it helps all three counties involved feel at ease, as they know they will be protected if they ever go to war. This treaty used to involve Australia, New Zealand and the US all in one but now there are two separate treaties. ANZUS was at first a treaty between Australia, New Zealand and the US, stating that an attack on one was an attack on all. This was good for all countries as they know that they could count on each other in a time of crisis. At first New Zealand and the United States got along fine, they were willing to protect each other in the in the event of an attack. But then in 1984 the New Zealand Labour Party won the election, making David Lange Prime Minister. As he was elected he made a ban on nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed ships entering New Zealand waters or using New Zealand ports. This affected the US because the United States Navy refused to say whether they had nuclear weapons aboard the ships that were trying to enter New Zealand waters. This gave no choice but to not let the US ships into the New Zealand port. After this ‘disagreement’ the US announced that the treaty with New Zealand was to be suspended until its ships were once again allowed to enter New Zealand waters and ports. As of yet, this has not happened.