Foreign Policy is now more than ever influenced by trade relations. In the past foreign policy was customarily influenced almost solely by military aspirations and endeavours, which meant that Australia (relying heavily on Great Britain for military advocacy) accepted and encouraged Great Britain's authority in international affairs. However over the past century, Foreign Policy has evolved to being: "... not simply a matter of defence spending and defensive alliances. The likelihood of nations co-operating with one …showed first 75 words of 364 total…

…showed last 75 words of 364 total…delivery of 10.9% of exports and imported only 2.7% of Australia's total imports (Cowie, 1987: 273). South-East Asia in general holds many steadily growing trading partners for Australia. New Zealand has been a stable and secure trading partner for Australia for many years, with figures of New Zealand's purchase of Australian exports in 1955-56 and 2001 remaining around 5-6% of total, and imports from New Zealand ranging from 1-4%. (Refer to Appendix 5 for full set of statistics from reliable sources).