Foreign Minister Marise Payne says Australia best leads on the international stage by providing an example to others, with the defence of the rules-based international order the country's primary goal.
In a speech to the University of Sydney's US Studies Centre on Tuesday, Ms Payne said shifts in economic and strategic weight on the international stage had forced Australia to adapt at an ever-increasing pace.
A new range of actors, from terrorist groups to global corporations, had also grown in international importance due to modern technology.
This was particularly the case in the Asia-Pacific region, where Ms Payne admitted an environment of great-power competition had arisen between the US - the status quo major power - and a rising China.
However, she said Australia could best follow its own interests in a contentious environment by leading through example.
"That means trading freely and fairly, pulling our weight to maintain a stable and prosperous region, not standing idly by when other countries are coerced, speaking honestly and consistently about human rights," Ms Payne said.
She listed a number of ways in which Australia was showing leadership on the world stage, from criticism of Saudi Arabian human rights violations to the plight of Myanmar's persecuted Rohingya minority.
Ms Payne said Australia had expressed concern to China about its repression of ethnic Uighurs in the western Xinjiang region.
In an implicit criticism of Chinese accusations of domestic meddling, she said speaking out "does not constitute interference in another country".
"Overwhelmingly, free and self-governed people behave better towards each other and the rest of the world," Ms Payne said.
She also said Australia would attempt to marshal support to evolve international institutions such as the United Nations.
"It is important to prioritise our efforts. We must pursue reform of the institutions that are most relevant to Australia's interests," Ms Payne said.
That included leadership in the space and cyberspace fields.
However Ms Payne made no reference to the "negative globalism" espoused by Prime Minister Scott Morrison in a foreign policy speech earlier this month, in which he warned against centralised power in international bodies.
