Since January 2003, the European Union (EU) has launched over 30 civilian and military crisis management missions and operations under the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). Their mandates have covered such tasks as peacekeeping, monitoring and mentoring, security sector reform, rule of law, counter-piracy and capacity-building. These missions and operations have seen the participation of both EU member states and third states. In order to help facilitate the participation of third states in these missions and operations, the EU established the Framework Partnership Agreements (FPAs) on crisis management in 2004, setting out the legal framework for third-state participation. In April 2015, Australia became the seventeenth country to sign an FPA with the EU (Australian Government and EU 2015). The signing of the FPA represents an important step in deepening security cooperation between the EU and Australia, and illustrates the extent to which the relationship has evolved and deepened since the start of diplomatic relations in 1962. Initially focused on economic issues, the expanding competences of the EU and the increased interaction between the EU and Australia have allowed the relationship to become more comprehensive in nature. As Murray (2016) has argued, the EU–Australia relationship has developed to become strategic in all but name. Recognition of shared common interests and values in contributing to global peace and stability has helped facilitate this. The ‘close historical, political, economic and cultural ties’, along with ‘their shared commitment to the respect for and promotion of human rights, fundamental freedoms, democracy and the rule of law’ (Australian Government and EU 2008, 3), have become the basis of this relationship. This has been formalised in several agreements signed between the EU and Australia since the 1997 Joint Declaration (see Australian Government and EU 1997, 2008, 2017). In assessing the FPA, a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT 2015, 3) report acknowledged that: ‘The proposed Agreement would be an important element in the Australia–EU bilateral relationship, strengthening the already broadbased cooperation on security and development matters’. DFAT acknowledged that the FPA would ‘add a new dimension to the Australia–EU strategic relationship’ (ibid.), thus illustrating the growing importance of the relationship. It also builds on Australia’s long-standing commitment to crisis management through its involvement in peacekeeping and post-conflict stabilisation missions in the Asia-Pacific and Africa.1 During her trip to Brussels in September 2016, Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop, reaffirmed ‘Australia’s commitment to deeper, broader, more diverse cooperation with the European Union’ (Bishop and Ciobo 2016).