Australia seeks agency for £10m rebrand

He said: "We're trying to sell our goods and services better to the world on the basis of better promoting the full breadth of our capacity.

"The more I go overseas and talk about our trading opportunities, the more I realise how little that's understood."

In the past, advertising has focused on positioning Australia as a fun and laid-back place to visit, most famously in ads starring the comedian Paul Hogan urging viewers to "throw another shrimp on the barbie".

More recently the 'Where the bloody hell are you?' campaign, created on behalf of Tourism Australia, caused a stir by using a potentially offensive word. Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd described that campaign as a "rolled gold disaster" last year.

The new marketing push does not affect Tourism Australia's remit or its relationship with retained agencies DDB and Carat. However, Tourism Australia will work on the new campaign along with other government bodies, including Austrade, and the private sector.

Crean appeared equivocal over the issue of whether the brief would be open to agencies outside of Australia.

In an interview on public-owned ABC radio he said it wouldn't be mandatory that it was an Australian agency, but that the country should have "confidence in our own strengths".