Evans was appointed Foreign Minister in September 1988, after his predecessor Bill Hayden retired to become Governor-General.
He held the position for seven years and six months, the longest-serving Labor minister in that portfolio.
He became a well-known Foreign Minister and highly regarded internationally, and continues to be regarded as one of Australia's most successful.
The Hawke and Keating governments were committed to shifting emphasis from Australia's traditional relationships with the United States and the United Kingdom to increased involvement with Asian neighbours, particularly Indonesia and China, and were strongly committed to multilateral diplomacy both globally and regionally.

Evans brought a strongly structured and analytical approach to foreign policymaking and is credited with significant innovative thinking in his articulation, in particular, of the concepts of middle power and niche diplomacy, 'good international citizenship' as a national interest, and cooperative security (see 'Contributions to international relations thinking', below).

His most widely acknowledged successes as foreign minister were his initiation of the UN peace plan for Cambodia, and the roles that he and Australia played in bringing to fruition the International Chemical Weapons Convention and establishing both the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).
Major contributions to international agenda setting, though not bearing much immediate fruit, were his book on UN reform launched in New York City in 1993, and his initiation with Paul Keating of the Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.

Evans famously became the first person to drop the f-bomb in the Australian Parliament, interjecting "for fuck's sake" during a speech by Senator Robert Hill.
Despite his reputation as a negotiator he was widely reputed to be in possession of a short-temper with a particular intolerance for elected representatives of the Australian Greens.

Evans ran into significant controversy on two major issues: relations with Indonesia over East Timor and French Nuclear Tests in the Pacific.
Evans continues to be strongly criticised by many commentators – most prominently Noam Chomsky and John Pilger – for supporting Australia's recognition of Indonesian sovereignty over East Timor following its military invasion in 1975, negotiating (and celebrating 'replete with champagne') with then Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas the Timor Gap Treaty, and describing the 1991 Dili massacre as 'an aberration, not an act of state policy'.
 Evans has replied at length to these charges in various forums, acknowledging that the Indonesian military's behaviour had been appalling and conceding that Australia had been too optimistic about its capacity for redemption, but arguing, that de jure recognition by Australian (and other) governments had never denied the continuing right of the East Timorese to self-determination; that he personally had worked hard (as subsequently acknowledged by José Ramos-Horta) to achieve real autonomy for East Timor as the only realistic option before the events of 1997; and that independent East Timor had fully inherited the benefits of the Timor Gap Treaty.

When in June 1995 the resumption of French underground nuclear tests at Moruroa Atoll was announced, Evans generated a storm of press and public criticism for remarking that while Australia deplored the decision  'it could have been worse'.
This was strictly accurate as the test series was limited in number, and France promised to then permanently close the test facility and join the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty negotiations, but it politically damaged Evans and his party.
Evans was appointed Foreign Minister in September 1988, after his predecessor Bill Hayden retired to become Governor-General. He held the position for seven years and six months, the longest-serving Labor minister in that portfolio. He became a well-known Foreign Minister and highly regarded internationally, and continues to be regarded as one of Australia's most successful. The Hawke and Keating governments were committed to shifting emphasis from Australia's traditional relationships with the United States and the United Kingdom to increased involvement with Asian neighbours, particularly Indonesia and China, and were strongly committed to multilateral diplomacy both globally and regionally.
Evans brought a strongly structured and analytical approach to foreign policymaking and is credited with significant innovative thinking in his articulation, in particular, of the concepts of middle power and niche diplomacy, 'good international citizenship' as a national interest, and cooperative security (see 'Contributions to international relations thinking', below).
His most widely acknowledged successes as foreign minister were his initiation of the UN peace plan for Cambodia, and the roles that he and Australia played in bringing to fruition the International Chemical Weapons Convention and establishing both the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). Major contributions to international agenda setting, though not bearing much immediate fruit, were his book on UN reform launched in New York City in 1993, and his initiation with Paul Keating of the Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.
Evans famously became the first person to drop the f-bomb in the Australian Parliament, interjecting "for fuck's sake" during a speech by Senator Robert Hill. Despite his reputation as a negotiator he was widely reputed to be in possession of a short-temper with a particular intolerance for elected representatives of the Australian Greens.
Evans ran into significant controversy on two major issues: relations with Indonesia over East Timor and French Nuclear Tests in the Pacific. Evans continues to be strongly criticised by many commentators – most prominently Noam Chomsky and John Pilger – for supporting Australia's recognition of Indonesian sovereignty over East Timor following its military invasion in 1975, negotiating (and celebrating 'replete with champagne') with then Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas the Timor Gap Treaty, and describing the 1991 Dili massacre as 'an aberration, not an act of state policy'.  Evans has replied at length to these charges in various forums, acknowledging that the Indonesian military's behaviour had been appalling and conceding that Australia had been too optimistic about its capacity for redemption, but arguing, that de jure recognition by Australian (and other) governments had never denied the continuing right of the East Timorese to self-determination; that he personally had worked hard (as subsequently acknowledged by José Ramos-Horta) to achieve real autonomy for East Timor as the only realistic option before the events of 1997; and that independent East Timor had fully inherited the benefits of the Timor Gap Treaty.
When in June 1995 the resumption of French underground nuclear tests at Moruroa Atoll was announced, Evans generated a storm of press and public criticism for remarking that while Australia deplored the decision  'it could have been worse'. This was strictly accurate as the test series was limited in number, and France promised to then permanently close the test facility and join the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty negotiations, but it politically damaged Evans and his party.
Gareth Evans (politician)