Mr Scott will argue in a speech that Australia's new-found influence as a member of the G20 group of nations means it needs to expand its ''soft diplomacy'' campaign to win support not just in the Asia-Pacific region but around the world.

''Australia has played a crucial role in creating the G20 as the pre-eminent global institution for economic policy-making and problem-solving,'' he will say at Sydney's Macquarie University.

''We have an important role to play and we have to use all the tools at our disposal … one of these tools is soft diplomacy - using the media to put our nation's culture, values and policies on show.''

Under the Scott plan, the ABC would:

■ Merge its international television service, Australia Network, and Radio Australia into a single brand;

■ Expand its broadcasts to reach 53 countries in Africa, 22 in the Middle East and up to 21 in Latin America;

■ Create five more news bureaus in the Asia-Pacific region, bringing its total to 14, more than the BBC or CNN.

The speech will be targetted in part at senior government decision-makers in foreign affairs and communications, who will need to chip in several hundred million dollars a year to make the plan a reality.

Mr Scott pointed out that Britain spends $868 million on the BBC's overseas services; France more than $600 million and Germany $532 million on their overseas broadcasters; while China is in the midst of an $8 billion media expansion that will involve its bilingual Chinese-English television service going global by the end of next year.

He contrasts this with the $34 million funding for the ABC's overseas broadcasts, which is about the same spent by Mexico and Brazil.

The Department of Foreign Affairs-funded Australia Network currently broadcasts into 44 countries across the Asia-Pacific. Radio Australia has a network of 11 around-the-clock stations in almost every Pacific capital city.