Rewriting the rules of regional power Western governments set great store by a ârules-based orderâ. But rules wonât work unless Asian nations can concur with them as well. Ric Smith and Tony Milner Apr 30, 2021 â 12.15pm Save Share Prime Minister Scott Morrison wishes us to live in a region âguided by international rules and normsâ. This is a strategic objective of fundamental significance for Australia â and an area in which Australian diplomacy could influence the outcome. Far from merely affirming an order taken for granted in the post-1945 American era, Australia in its 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper acknowledged specifically that the global order is not static. The institutions and rules that support global co-operation âcan and do evolveâ, it was said, and âmust accommodate the greater weight of emerging powersâ.