Michael Costello, AO

Michael Costello was secretary in the last years of the Keating Labor Government, years characterised, above all, by an intensification of Australia’s engagement with Asia. This ambition for more comprehensive relationships with Asia was occasioned partly by the end of the Cold War but was also generated by the need felt by Australia — along with most other countries — to define its role in the new global order. The debate about civilisation and values sparked by Samuel Huntington’s 1993 ‘Clash of Civilizations’ article was a foretaste of the challenges of terrorism and the ‘rise’ of Islam.^[1]

Internationally, this period marked some high points and low points for multilateralism. It not only featured the completion of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations, but also the emergence of unprecedented regionalism around the world: in Europe (the 1992 Maastricht Treaty); in North America (the 1993 NAFTA Agreement); and in the Asia Pacific (APEC’s first summit was in 1993). Tragically, it was also the time of the break-up of Yugoslavia and the aftermath, including the United Nations mixed record in humanitarian intervention and nation-building.

Costello was secretary of the Department of Industrial Relations at the time of his appointment to head DFAT. He had previously been, for several years, deputy secretary of the department and had also served as Australian Ambassador to the United Nations in New York. He had played a prominent role in negotiating the Cambodia Peace Agreement on behalf of Foreign Minister, Gareth Evans, personally undertaking what was perhaps Australia’s first example of ‘shuttle diplomacy’.

During this period, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Costello himself, were directly involved in Australia’s pro-active approach to Asia. Yet departmental management continued to be strained by expectations that ‘DFAT would do more with less’.^[2] Costello was comfortable with both his policy and managerial responsibilities. The Howard Government’s summary dismissal of Costello, along with five other departmental secretaries, when it took office in March 1996 was much later described by journalist Paul Kelly as ‘the greatest blood-letting upon any change of government since Federation’.^[3]

Since leaving DFAT, Michael Costello has, amongst other things, been active as a commentator on national and international affairs for The Australian newspaper, while also working as CEO of ACTEW, the Australian Capital Territory’s electricity and water authority.