tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/penny-wong-2998/articlesPenny Wong – The Conversation2024-03-22T02:55:54Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2262322024-03-22T02:55:54Z2024-03-22T02:55:54ZPositive outlook, with a dash of humour: Wang Yi’s visit sets the tone for a real diplomatic reboot<p>There is a prominent view in Australia that bilateral relations with China remain inherently “<a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8011557/australia-china-relationship-fragile/">fragile</a>”. </p>
<p>Canberra and Beijing might have started talking to each other again after Labor returned to power in May 2022. But some deep-seated differences remain, such as around the role the United States should play in the emerging regional order. </p>
<p>And at any moment these differences might see the Albanese government put in Beijing’s doghouse, just as the Morrison government was in 2020.</p>
<p>After the visit to Australia this week by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, however, we can be a little more confident the current positive trajectory in Australia-China relations has some resilience.</p>
<p>Wang’s <a href="https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/penny-wong/transcript/press-conference-parliament-house-canberra">main purpose</a> for making the trip was to join Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong for the <a href="https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/penny-wong/media-release/australia-china-foreign-and-strategic-dialogue-joint-outcomes-statement">reinstated</a> annual Australia-China Foreign and Strategic Dialogue, a regular, high-level meeting that was put on pause during the lowest point of China-Australia relations. </p>
<p>Following his meeting with Wong, Wang also had a roundtable discussion with a group of Australian business leaders, academics and think tank experts, hosted by the <a href="https://acbc.com.au/media-release/media-release-acbc-roundtable-with-chinas-foreign-minister-wang-yi/">Australia-China Business Council</a>. I was a part of this session. </p>
<p>Perhaps unsurprisingly, Wang talked up China’s domestic and international achievements during this session, such as the fact that China’s economy consistently contributes to one-third of global economic growth. </p>
<p>He also defended Beijing’s positions on a range of issues, such as the introduction of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-article-23-means-for-the-future-of-hong-kong-and-its-once-vibrant-pro-democracy-movement-226186">controversial national security law</a> this week in Hong Kong. And there was more than one critical reference to the United States.</p>
<p>But when Wang explained how Beijing hoped to manage ties with Canberra moving forward – and what China wanted to get out of the relationship with Australia more broadly – it was striking that in both tone and substance his remarks were almost identical to those of Wong.</p>
<p>Wang’s tone was not exuberant. But it was unmistakably positive and assiduously forward-looking. The assertive, <a href="https://theconversation.com/behind-chinas-newly-aggressive-diplomacy-wolf-warriors-ready-to-fight-back-139028">“wolf warrior”-style</a> diplomacy that characterised China’s foreign policy in recent years was nowhere to be seen. And the “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/nov/20/chinas-infamous-list-of-grievances-with-australia-should-be-longer-than-14-points-top-diplomat-says">14 grievances</a>” the Chinese embassy issued in 2020 to express the country’s frustrations with Australia remained in the drawer. </p>
<p>And like his Australian counterpart, Wang hoped that Beijing and Canberra would maintain “mature, stable and productive” relations. His aim was for the “diverse engagement” between the two countries to continue and the “untapped potential” of the relationship to be realised. </p>
<p>After all, Wang said, Australia and China had “more common interests than differences”. On the latter, the task was not to pretend they didn’t exist, but rather to “manage and rise above” them. </p>
<p>This sounded an awful lot like Wong’s <a href="https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/penny-wong/transcript/press-conference-parliament-house-canberra">exhortation</a> in a press conference following her meeting with Wang that Australia and China need to “manage their differences wisely”. </p>
<p>Wang even managed a note of humour, joking to business leaders in the room that despite Australia running a massive <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/international-trade/international-trade-goods/latest-release">bilateral trade surplus with China</a> (more than $A100 billion in 2023), Beijing did not consider this a problem. He quipped he did not intend launching any “301 investigations” against Australia, name-checking the tactics that <a href="https://ustr.gov/issue-areas/enforcement/section-301-investigations/tariff-actions">Washington has deployed</a> to reduce its trade deficit with China. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-be-fooled-by-biden-and-xi-talks-china-and-the-us-are-enduring-rivals-rather-than-engaged-partners-217978">Don't be fooled by Biden and Xi talks − China and the US are enduring rivals rather than engaged partners</a>
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<h2>Avoiding diplomatic pitfalls</h2>
<p>Given Beijing’s previous behaviour toward Canberra, such as using trade restrictions to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10357718.2023.2212612">disrupt A$20 billion worth of Australian exports</a> in 2020, Wang’s rhetoric this week could arouse some scepticism. </p>
<p>But recent events suggest more is at play – and the relationship is actually on firmer ground than might be expected. </p>
<p>Last November, a Chinese warship <a href="https://www.minister.defence.gov.au/media-releases/2023-11-18/unsafe-and-unprofessional-interaction-pla-n">directed</a> a powerful, hull-mounted sonar at an Australian naval vessel in the East China Sea, causing minor injuries to divers who had been removing fishing nets entangled in the ship’s propellers. </p>
<p>Neither side shied away from making clear their positions on the incident – and these were at odds. </p>
<p>Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/television-interview-sky-news-afternoon-agenda-5">described</a> the Chinese actions as “dangerous, unsafe and unprofessional”. </p>
<p>China’s Ministry of National Defence, meanwhile, <a href="http://eng.mod.gov.cn/xb/News_213114/TopStories/16267999.html">said</a> Australia ought to “respect the facts” and “stop making reckless and irresponsible accusations”.</p>
<p>Despite this strong language, however, neither side prolonged or escalated the impact of the incident.</p>
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<p>The same dynamic was apparent when Beijing announced last month that an Australian citizen, Yang Hengjun, had received a suspended death sentence in China for “<a href="http://au.china-embassy.gov.cn/eng/zagx_0/sgxw/202402/t20240205_11240737.htm">espionage</a>”. </p>
<p>Wong <a href="https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/penny-wong/media-release/sentencing-dr-yang-jun">described</a> the verdict as “appalling”. Albanese <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/doorstop-interview-canberra-4">said</a> his government had conveyed to Beijing “our dismay, our despair, our frustration, but to put it really simply, our outrage at this verdict”. She continued to advocate loudly on Yang’s behalf to Wang this week, as well. </p>
<p>Beijing took a <a href="http://au.china-embassy.gov.cn/eng/zagx_0/sgxw/202402/t20240205_11240737.htm">very different position</a>, saying the Chinese court respected Yang’s procedural rights. </p>
<p>But when asked whether Australia might take more extreme steps in response to the verdict, such as recall Australia’s ambassador to Beijing or rescind an invitation for a high-ranking Chinese official to visit, Wong quickly hosed down such suggestions. Chinese Premier Li Qiang is still <a href="https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/penny-wong/transcript/press-conference-parliament-house-canberra">expected</a> to visit Australia this year, reciprocating Albanese’s trip to China last November. </p>
<p>And at the same time, Trade Minister Don Farrell <a href="https://www.afr.com/policy/foreign-affairs/australia-can-launch-a-new-trade-boom-with-china-farrell-says-20240301-p5f8yv">continued to talk up</a> areas of mutual benefit between the countries. He said just days after the verdict that while Australia already has a roaring A$300 billion trade relationship with China, this “doesn’t mean that figure can’t be A$400 billion”.</p>
<p>Evidently, neither side wishes to return to the dysfunction of 2020–21, when the response to political differences was megaphone diplomacy, cutting off dialogue and crimping areas of mutually beneficial cooperation. </p>
<p>None of the episodes of the last few months are proof positive that Australia-China relations could not be thrown off course again by a more extreme development. If Canberra walked away from adhering to the “<a href="https://www.uts.edu.au/acri/research-and-opinion/commentary/australia-and-us-paths-china-taiwan-are-diverging">One-China Policy</a>”, for instance, or if Beijing ramped up its aggression towards Australian naval vessels in international waters, the future of the bilateral relationship would quickly darken. </p>
<p>But for the time being, the outlook is more stable and optimistic than it has been for a good while. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/does-yang-hengjun-have-any-legal-hopes-left-after-receiving-a-suspended-death-sentence-in-china-222750">Does Yang Hengjun have any legal hopes left after receiving a suspended death sentence in China?</a>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Laurenceson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Differences between Australia and China will remain, but both foreign ministers this week stressed the need to manage them better to avoid another diplomatic freeze.James Laurenceson, Director and Professor, Australia-China Relations Institute (ACRI), University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2262212024-03-20T04:33:54Z2024-03-20T04:33:54ZChinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi declines to front media after talks with Penny Wong<p>Foreign Minister Penny Wong delivered a forthright message to her Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, at the Australia-China Foreign and Strategic Dialogue in Canberra on Wednesday. </p>
<p>“I told the foreign minister Australians were shocked at the sentence imposed on Dr Yang Hengjun,” she said at a news conference following their meeting. “And I made it clear to him the Australian government will continue to advocate on Dr Yang’s behalf.” </p>
<p>Yang, an Australian citizen, was given a <a href="https://theconversation.com/does-yang-hengjun-have-any-legal-hopes-left-after-receiving-a-suspended-death-sentence-in-china-222750">death penalty sentence</a> on espionage charges earlier this year, although it is set to be commuted after two years of good behaviour.</p>
<p>The media did not hear Wang’s version of the conversation because the Chinese foreign minister had previously indicated he would not front the news conference. Normally with senior visiting figures, there is a joint press conference after the talks. </p>
<p>Unusually, given Wang’s absence, media arrangements were the same as if he had been there. Australian and Chinese journalists were allocated three questions a side. Wang did not hold a separate news conference.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/does-yang-hengjun-have-any-legal-hopes-left-after-receiving-a-suspended-death-sentence-in-china-222750">Does Yang Hengjun have any legal hopes left after receiving a suspended death sentence in China?</a>
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<p>The visit of Wang, who met Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday afternoon, comes as Australia is hoping for an early end to the remaining trade sanctions China imposed when it put the former Coalition government in the freezer. </p>
<p>China’s final decision on lifting its tariffs on wine is due by March 31. In an interim determination last week, the Chinese said the tariffs were no longer necessary. </p>
<p>Australia is still waiting for progress on the restrictions on lobsters and some beef abattoirs.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Australia has dropped anti-dumping action against Chinese wind towers, an action the Chinese saw as a good gesture. </p>
<p>Wong in the meeting welcomed the progress on removing trade impediments and “reiterated our desire for the removal of remaining impediments on beef and lobster.” The two foreign ministers also discussed the volatility of the nickel market.</p>
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<p>“I made the point that predictability in business and trade is in all our economic interests,” Wong said.</p>
<p>Wong did not shy away from a range of sensitive subjects, raising Australian concerns about human rights in Tibet and Hong Kong and expressing “our serious concern about unsafe conduct at sea, our desire for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in our region”.</p>
<p>Wong said the dialogue enabled the two countries to manage their differences. </p>
<p>“It doesn’t eliminate them, but this government in the interests of Australia will always seek to manage those differences wisely. </p>
<p>"As I said at the outset of my meeting, China will always be China, Australia will always be Australia.” </p>
<p>On Thursday, Wang will meet former Prime Minister Paul Keating, who has previously been critical of Wong and the Albanese government regarding the threat China poses and the government’s support for AUKUS. Ahead of this meeting, Keating said in a written statement earlier this week: “I have supported Foreign Minister Penny Wong in her attempts to lower the loud hailer and ‘stabilise’ relations with China”.</p>
<p>Wong said her meeting with Wang was the latest in the process of achieving a “stable relationship” between the two countries.</p>
<p>The foreign and strategic dialogue only recommenced under the Labor government, after the hiatus in the bilateral relationship in the latter days of the Coalition government. </p>
<p>Wong said arrangements were “on track” for a visit later this year by Chinese Premier Li Qiang.</p>
<p>Responding to a question, Wong also pushed back against former US President Donald Trump’s attack on Australia’s ambassador to the United States, Kevin Rudd. </p>
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<p>Trump lashed out at Rudd – who some years ago was highly critical of Trump – in an interview with right-wing political figure and broadcaster Nigel Farage. </p>
<p>Farage told Trump that Rudd had said horrible things about him. </p>
<p>Trump replied: “I heard he was a little bit nasty. I hear he’s not the brightest bulb. But I don’t know much about him. But if, if he’s at all hostile, he will not be there long.”</p>
<p>Asked if Rudd would be kept in Washington if Trump became president again, Wong said: “The answer is yes”.</p>
<p>She said Rudd was a “very effective ambassador […] doing an excellent job advancing Australia’s interests in the United States”. </p>
<p>“Even Mr Dutton has expressed confidence in Mr Rudd,” she said. Rudd would be able to work closely with whoever won the presidential election, she added.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226221/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Wong says she delivered a strong message to her counterpart on the sentencing of Australian writer Yang Hengjun on espionage charges.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2250872024-03-05T06:13:03Z2024-03-05T06:13:03ZPaul Keating lets fly at Foreign Minister Penny Wong and ASIO chief Mike Burgess<p>Former Prime Minister Paul Keating has accused Foreign Minister Penny Wong of rattling “the China can” and declared the chief of ASIO, Mike Burgess, runs “a goon show”. </p>
<p>In a fresh assault on Wong, and one of his repeated denunciations of the national security establishment, Keating also said this week’s special ASEAN summit in Melbourne “makes it clear Australia and Australian policy is at odds with the general tenor of ASEAN’s perceived strategic interests. That is, interests which relate to China and the United States and relations between them.” </p>
<p>Wong told a summit event on Monday the region faced “the most confronting circumstances […] in decades”.</p>
<p>“We face destabilising, provocative and coercive actions, including unsafe conduct at sea and in the air and militarisation of disputed features,” she said.</p>
<p>In a Tuesday statement Keating, who has <a href="https://theconversation.com/paul-keating-lashes-albanese-government-over-aukus-calling-it-labors-biggest-failure-since-ww1-201866">previously criticised Wong </a>over her China stand, said: “It doesn’t take much to encourage Penny Wong, sporting her ‘deeply concerned’ frown, to rattle the China can – a can she gave a good shake to yesterday”.</p>
<p>But, he said, before she did so, “the resident conjurer, Mike Burgess, who runs ASIO, gave us a week’s worth of spy mysteries – only for us to find via a leak to the [Sydney Morning] Herald and the Age that the mysterious state running the spying was, you guessed it, China”. </p>
<p>Burgess said last week that a former politician, whom he declined to name,
had “sold out their country, party and former colleagues to advance the interests” of a foreign country, which he also would not name. He has argued to name the person would compromise ASIO’s sources and methods. </p>
<p>Keating said: “The kabuki show runs thus: Burgess drops the claim, then out of nowhere, the Herald and The Age miraculously appear to solve the mystery - the villain, as it turns out, is China after all.</p>
<p>"The anti-China Australian strategic policy establishment was feeling some slippage in its mindless pro-American stance and decided some new China rattling was overdue.” </p>
<p>Keating said when the Albanese government came in, it should have dismissed Burgess, the director-general of the Office of National Intelligence, Andrew Shearer and then-head of the Home Affairs Department, Mike Pezzullo.</p>
<p>“In the event, Pezzullo [dismissed last year over breaching the public service code of conduct] shot himself but, unbelievably, Burgess and Shearer still remain at the centre of a Labor government’s security apparatus. This says more about the government than it says about them. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/pezzullo-story-points-to-serious-systemic-problems-in-the-australian-public-service-214253">Pezzullo story points to serious systemic problems in the Australian Public Service</a>
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<p>"These people display utter contempt for the so-called stabilisation process that the Prime Minister had decided upon and has progressed with China. And will do anything to destabilise any meaningful rapprochement. Burgess runs the primary goon show while Shearer does all in his power to encourage Australia into becoming the 51st state of the United States.”</p>
<p>Keating said that on Monday the Malaysia prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, had “dropped a huge rock into Wong’s pond by telling Australia not to piggyback Australia’s problems with China onto ASEAN.</p>
<p>"Anwar is making it clear, Malaysia for its part, is not buying United States hegemony in East Asia – with states being lobbied to ringfence China on the way through.</p>
<p>"That difficult task, the maintenance of US strategic hegemony, is being left to supplicants like us.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225087/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In a fresh assault on Wong Former Prime Minister Paul Keating has accused Foreign Minister Penny Wong of rattling “the China can” and declared the chief of ASIO, Mike Burgess, runs “a goon show”.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2249642024-03-04T11:31:11Z2024-03-04T11:31:11ZAlbanese to announce $2 billion financing facility to boost economic relations with Southeast Asia<p>Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will unveil a suite of financial and other incentives to boost Australia’s economic relations with Southeast Asia when he addresses the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit’s CEO forum on Tuesday. </p>
<p>A $2 billion Southeast Asia Investment Financing Facility will provide loans, guarantees, equity and insurance for increasing Australian trade and investment in the region, especially supporting its transition to clean energy and developing infrastructure. </p>
<p>The facility will be managed by Export Finance Australia. </p>
<p>Australia will also provide $140 million over four years to extend the current <a href="https://www.partnershipsforinfrastructure.org">Partnerships for Infrastructure Program</a>, which has been operating since 2021. This funding will assist Southeast Asian nations to improve their infrastructure development and hasten reforms to attract more diverse infrastructure financing. </p>
<p>The emphasis in this program has been on helping partners in the areas of transport, clean energy and telecommunications. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-take-this-for-granted-why-the-asean-australia-relationship-needs-a-jolt-of-youthful-leadership-224501">'We take this for granted': why the ASEAN-Australia relationship needs a jolt of youthful leadership</a>
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<p>Among other measures, regional “landing pads” in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, will support Australian businesses to increase exports of technology services to the region. </p>
<p>Ten “business champions” – senior Australian business leaders – are to strengthen investment and trade ties with each of the Southeast Asian countries. </p>
<p>Business validity visas will be lengthened from three to five years, and the ten-year <a href="https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/visitor-600/frequent-traveller-stream">Frequent Traveller Scheme</a> will be extended to eligible ASEAN countries and Timor-Leste.</p>
<p>In his speech to 100 Australian and Southeast Asian CEOs, Albanese will say that in 2022 Australia’s two-way trade with ASEAN members passed $178 billion. That was more than Australia’s trade with Japan or the United States. Australia’s two-way investment with the region was some $307 billion.</p>
<p>“But we want to do more – to support regional growth and to realise mutual benefits. To deepen our ties and to boost the skills of our people,” Albanese says in his speech, released ahead of delivery.</p>
<p>“There is so much untapped potential,” the PM says, but “not unlimited time. </p>
<p>"We must act together, and we must act now.” </p>
<p>He nominates specific areas for action, which are </p>
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<li><p>to use the digital economy to support the region’s social and economic development </p></li>
<li><p>to turn our commodities into higher value exports in competitive global markets</p></li>
<li><p>to back women’s equality in business leadership, and </p></li>
<li><p>to leverage our expertise and technology to meet the region’s energy needs. </p></li>
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<p>“We want to ensure businesses in Southeast Asia can access the markets that are available in Australia including in infrastructure and the clean energy transition.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Penny Wong told the <a href="https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/penny-wong/speech/asean-australia-special-summit-2024-keynote-address-maritime-cooperation-forum">Maritime Cooperation Forum</a> at the summit the region faced “the most confronting circumstances […] in decades”.</p>
<p>“We face destabilising, provocative and coercive actions, including unsafe conduct at sea and in the air and militarisation of disputed features.</p>
<p>"We know that military power is expanding, but measures to constrain military conflict are not – and there are few concrete mechanisms for averting it,” Wong said.</p>
<p>Australia recognised “ASEAN centrality as key to the region’s stability and security, and we are committed to supporting ASEAN’s leadership,” she said.</p>
<p>She said Australia was working with ASEAN countries “to increase resilience to coercion, and to ensure waterways that serve us all remain open and accessible”.</p>
<p>Wong announced a further $64 million over four years, including $40 million in new funding, for enhancing Australia’s <a href="https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/penny-wong/media-release/new-funding-maritime-partnerships-southeast-asia">Southeast Asian maritime partnerships</a>. </p>
<p>A further $222.5 million will go to supporting “resilience in the Mekong subregion”. </p>
<p>“A second phase of the Mekong-Australia Partnership will build on our existing partnerships to invest in water security, climate change resilience, combatting transnational crime, and strengthening sub-regional leadership.”</p>
<p>On Monday, Albanese hosted Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim for an official visit to Australia.</p>
<p>At their joint news conference, Anwar stressed that Malaysia sought good relations with both the United States and China. </p>
<p>Malaysia was “fiercely independent”. It remained an important friend to the United States and Australia, but that “should not preclude us from being friendly to one of our important neighbours, precisely China […] We do not have a problem with China,” Anwar said.</p>
<h2>Update: Albanese on Tuesday announced the 10 Business Champions</h2>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The prime minister said ‘there is so much untapped potential’ in the region of 650 million people to the north of Australia, but ‘not unlimited time.’Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2160082023-10-19T08:06:10Z2023-10-19T08:06:10ZCabinet Minister Ed Husic says Palestinians are being ‘collectively punished’ for Hamas’ barbarism<p>Industry Minister Ed Husic, the only Muslim in the Albanese cabinet, has said he feels “very strongly” that Palestinians are being “collectively punished” for Hamas’ barbarism.</p>
<p>As the Middle East crisis risks raising tensions within Labor, which has a divided feelings about Palestine, Husic sought to tread a careful line, while emphasising the mounting toll of Palestinian victims. </p>
<p>“Let me put it in a way that might be difficult for some to hear,” <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-19/husic-says-palestinians-being-collectively-punished/102995306">he said on the ABC</a>. “It might also go to some way explaining why Palestinians and people who are sympathetic of them have reacted in the way that they have.”</p>
<p>He said the Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians had been described as Israel’s equivalent of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.</p>
<p>“The number of Palestinians that have been killed so far equates to the number of people who lost their lives in 9/11,” Husic said. </p>
<p>“We don’t see any public landmarks in Australia that are being lit up in red, black, white and green,” a reference to the Opera House and Parliament House being lit with Israel’s colours after the attacks.</p>
<p>“Now there will be people that are very uncomfortable with me making that remark. But it goes to the heart of what Palestinians and those who care for them in Australia […] think, which is that Palestinian lives are considered lesser.”</p>
<p>A humanitarian catastrophe was unfolding in Gaza, Husic said. There were choices that could be made to avoid that.</p>
<p>“It’s really important that we are conscious of that, and that we contribute to international voices speaking up for Palestinians, particularly innocent Palestinian families.” The 3000 deaths so far included about 1000 children.</p>
<p>It was important to say there had to be “a more strategic and precise way to hold Hamas to account, but not affect innocent Palestinian families,” he said. </p>
<p>“You’ve got homes, schools, medical centres destroyed – that’s before we even contemplate how they’ll get rebuilt. No food, fuel, medicines, water. </p>
<p>"It’s no surprise that there are some saying that this is the collective punishment being extended to Palestinians.” </p>
<p>Husic said he was very mindful of Anthony Albanese’s words that protecting the innocent was not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength. “I genuinely believe there needs to be a de-escalation.” </p>
<p>He also felt while pursuing a two-state solution was once seen as important, now “this is spoken more as a way in which we can just comfort ourselves at these points, and then when the situation and the tensions subside, nothing practically happens”.</p>
<p>Husic said he had made clear his depth of feeling for Israelis who had suffered and acknowledged Israel’s would respond to the Hamas barbarism. </p>
<p>“I have made that clear, but I’m also genuinely concerned about what happens to innocent Palestinians from this point on.” </p>
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<p>Anne Aly, also Muslim, who is in the outer ministry, said some people said Israel had committed war crimes. Asked whether she believed that, she told the ABC it was “possibly something that could be investigated. And I think that anyone, any state or any group that commits war crimes should be investigated and should be held accountable.”</p>
<p>Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley said Husic’s comments exposed Labor’s deep division about Israel.</p>
<p>“Cabinet ministers do not get the luxury of freelancing on foreign policy and the precedent is very clear when ministers publicly disagree with their government’s official position,” Ley said in a statement.</p>
<p>Foreign Minister Penny Wong told the Senate: “Every innocent life matters, whether Israeli or Palestinian.”</p>
<p>She said at home “our role as a government and I would say our role as a Senate is to do all we can to keep our country unified, to make sure our community feels heard. </p>
<p>"There are times where it is important that we actually put aside partisan politics and differences of views because there’s a greater purpose to what we are doing,” she said.</p>
<p>Opposition leader Peter Dutton said the Prime Minister, who will be in Washington for a state visit next week, should go to Israel.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216008/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As the Middle East crisis risks raising tensions within Labor, which has a divided feelings about Palestine, Husic sought to tread a careful line, while emphasising the mounting toll of Palestinian victimsMichelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2154532023-10-11T06:09:16Z2023-10-11T06:09:16ZCheng Lei released by China and reunited with family in Melbourne<p>Cheng Lei, the Australian journalist incarcerated in China since August 2020, has been freed – arriving in Melbourne to be reunited with her family. </p>
<p>She was met at the airport by Foreign Minister Penny Wong, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announcing her release at a Melbourne news conference on Wednesday. </p>
<p>Albanese said he had spoken with Cheng, who has two children, and she was “delighted” to be back in Melbourne. He said that in the call he had welcomed her home on behalf of all Australians. </p>
<p>“Her return brings an end to a very difficult few years for Ms Cheng and her family,” Albanese said. He described her as “a very strong and resilient person”.</p>
<p>Cheng, 48, who was born in China, was a business journalist with China’s state-run English language television station CGTN when she was detained. </p>
<p>She was accused of “illegally supplying state secrets overseas”. Her trial took place in secret.</p>
<p>Her release comes after continued representations by Australia, including by Albanese himself. It appears to be timed as a gesture ahead of Albanese’s visit to Beijing later this year, and follows the lifting of most restrictions on Australian commodities. Those left cover wine and some seafoods.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215453/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Cheng Lei’s release comes after three years of detainment and continued representations by Australia, including by the prime minister himself.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2137642023-10-03T19:06:27Z2023-10-03T19:06:27ZHow might the First Nations Voice to Parliament referendum affect Australia’s international reputation?<p>In late September, American rap legend MC Hammer made a spectacular intervention into Australia’s upcoming referendum to establish a Voice to Parliament for First Nations people. In a tweet, he urged Australians to “repair the breach”. </p>
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<p>Hammer’s tweet garnered some 1.1 million views, 1,300 retweets and 5,700 likes. It also triggered a wave of online criticisms from “no” supporters. Some accused him of being a “one-hit wonder” with no place in the debate. </p>
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<p>While Hammer seemed to enter the fray on his own accord, Labor’s recruitment of retired American basketballer <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/from-insulting-to-welcome-shaquille-oneals-support-for-indigenous-reform-draws-mixed-reactions/0jlz2g5wo">Shaquille O'Neal</a> to the campaign in support of the Voice to Parliament last year drew similarly mixed reactions.</p>
<p>While it is not yet clear whether these endorsements from overseas celebrities help or hinder the “yes” campaign, there are bigger questions here about the extent of global attention on the referendum and whether the result will affect Australia’s international reputation. </p>
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<h2>International attention on the vote</h2>
<p>On October 14, Australians will vote whether to amend the Constitution to establish a new advisory body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people called the Voice to Parliament. The new body would provide advice and make representations to parliament and the government on any issues relating to First Nations people. If the referendum passes, the body’s powers would be set by federal parliament.</p>
<p>The Voice model has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-no-campaign-is-dominating-the-messaging-on-the-voice-referendum-on-tiktok-heres-why-212465">fiercely debated</a> in Australia. Supporters say it will help remedy a litany of failed policies in health care, employment and education for First Nations people, while opponents claim it is <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-yes-voice-campaign-is-far-outspending-no-in-online-advertising-but-is-the-message-getting-through-213749">divisive</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-divided-australia-will-soon-vote-on-the-most-significant-referendum-on-indigenous-rights-in-50-years-212259">A divided Australia will soon vote on the most significant referendum on Indigenous rights in 50 years</a>
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<p>Using data from Meltwater, a global media monitoring company, we have identified more than 1.7 million mentions of the Voice to Parliament referendum in traditional and social media globally over the last three months. Much of this has been generated in Australia, where the Voice has been mentioned 887,000 times. </p>
<p>Once we exclude content generated in Australia and unknown locations, the number of mentions drops to around 148,000 in the last three months. </p>
<p>International attention on the Voice for Parliament referendum peaked on August 30 when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the voting date. Global news outlets such as the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-62374703">BBC</a>, <a href="https://time.com/6309565/australia-indigenous-voice-parliament-vote/">Time</a> and <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/94cc23e2-1991-4973-808d-9b1f56730d23">Financial Times</a> produced explainers for their audiences. </p>
<p>More recently, global reporting has interrogated the “<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/40a5689c-2f00-411d-9fb4-b228567c5c08">backlash</a>” against the referendum, as well as the spread of disinformation online, as polls have suggested declining <a href="https://www.economist.com/asia/2023/09/28/australians-looks-set-to-reject-new-provisions-for-aboriginal-people">support</a> nationwide. </p>
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<h2>Which countries are the most interested?</h2>
<p>Most news and social media mentions of the Voice were generated in “Anglosphere” countries, such as the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. Meltwater data had the US well out in front with over 63,000 mentions of the Voice in the last three months, with the UK second at just over 16,000. New Zealand is also following the debate, with more than 2,000 mentions, as well as <a href="https://twitter.com/RRegenvanu/status/1708400914422476965?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1708400914422476965%7Ctwgr%5E10b49fee55c6293ea7eab0f1a5536625cd67e789%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheconversation.com%2Fhow-might-the-first-nations-voice-to-parliament-referendum-affect-australias-international-reputation-213764">politicians in the Pacific</a>. </p>
<p>Launches and rallies in support of the “yes” campaign have also been held in the US and UK, receiving online attention: </p>
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<p>But the Meltwater data is restricted to English, and can only reveal so much about how much attention people in other countries are paying to the Voice referendum. </p>
<p>And while there are public reports on <a href="https://poll.lowyinstitute.org/report/2023/">Australian attitudes</a> to other countries, there is much less research on how people in other countries think about Australians.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ussc.edu.au/the-asian-research-network-survey-on-americas-role-in-the-asia-pacific">Previous research</a> by Professor Simon Jackman shows a general sense of ambivalence towards Australia’s national character among people in Japan, South Korea, China, Indonesia and the US. The lack of research on Australia’s reputation in other countries will make it difficult to assess the impact of the Voice result. </p>
<p>What does seem likely, however, is that a “no” result will be weaponised by other countries against Australia. While the <a href="https://www.globaltimes.cn/index.html">Global Times</a>, a leading Chinese English-language news outlet, has been relatively quiet on the Voice so far, it has a history of using strategic narratives to blunt criticisms of China’s human rights record. </p>
<p>For example, China has cited the gaps in health, life expectancy and incarceration rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians as a way to criticise Australia’s “<a href="https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202209/1276412.shtml">systematic discrimination and oppression</a>” of First Nations people in international forums such as the UN Human Rights Council. </p>
<p>The Global Times has also <a href="https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202211/1279141.shtml">reported</a> on the effects of colonialism on First Nations people, the deaths of First Nations people in custody and the destruction of cultural sites such as Juukan Gorge.</p>
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<p>The groundwork for using strategic narratives around the Voice has already been laid. Albert Zhang and Danielle Cave from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute have tracked how inauthentic social media accounts that are likely linked to the Chinese Communist Party have sought to amplify “<a href="https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/chinas-cyber-interference-narrows-in-on-australian-politics-and-policy/">division over the Indigenous voice referendum</a>”. This is also a <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-yes-voice-campaign-is-far-outspending-no-in-online-advertising-but-is-the-message-getting-through-213749">central message</a> being used by the “no” campaign to argue against the Voice.</p>
<p>A “no” result will make countering these hostile narratives more difficult. In addition, it would likely compromise Australia’s moral authority when it seeks to advocate or pressure other states on human rights issues. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/despite-its-pacific-step-up-australia-is-still-not-listening-to-the-region-new-research-shows-130539">Despite its Pacific 'step-up', Australia is still not listening to the region, new research shows</a>
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<h2>Australia’s foreign policy</h2>
<p>The referendum result could also affect Australia’s ability to employ a foreign policy approach that seeks to “<a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/sites/default/files/indigenous-diplomacy-agenda.pdf">elevate</a>” Indigenous people and issues.</p>
<p>In 2021, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade released an <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/sites/default/files/indigenous-diplomacy-agenda.pdf">Indigenous Diplomacy Agenda</a> committed to reconciliation in Australia and supporting Indigenous rights globally.</p>
<p>At the time, DFAT Secretary Frances Adamson cast First Nations people as key to how Australia defines and expresses itself globally. She argued a foreign service that properly represents the diversity of Australia has “a <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/news/speech/contribution-indigenous-australia-our-diplomacy">genuine competitive advantage</a>”. </p>
<p>Foreign Minister Penny Wong has also sought to <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ajph.12876">centre and value</a> First Nations people in Australia’s modern identity and diplomacy, including in international speeches. To the UN General Assembly last week, she said Australia draws “<a href="https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/penny-wong/speech/national-statement-united-nations-general-assembly">on the knowledge of First Peoples</a> carrying forward the oldest continuing culture on earth”.</p>
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<p>As a result, a “yes” vote could provide Australian diplomats with “<a href="https://perthusasia.edu.au/PerthUSAsia/media/Perth_USAsia/Publications/An-Aboriginal-and-Torres-Strait-Islander-Voice-to-Parliament-why-it-matters-to-Australia-s-Indo-Pacific-relationships.pdf">the momentum</a>” to embed a First Nations foreign policy into their practice. A “no” vote, meanwhile, will make it more difficult to establish Australia as a credible leader on Indigenous and human rights issues, particularly in its relations with neighbours in Asia and the Pacific. </p>
<p>How to position the Voice internationally may become a problem for the government as polling has shown dwindling support for the measure. </p>
<p>When questioned by CNN’s Christiane Amanpour about what the low support for the Voice means for Australia’s commitment to Indigenous people, Wong <a href="https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/penny-wong/transcript/interview-christiane-amanpour-cnn">responded</a>:</p>
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<p>referenda are hard to win in Australia because of the nature of how our voting [works], of what is required to change the Constitution. But, you know, we remain hopeful.</p>
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<p>This points to the government’s careful international messaging as the success of the referendum – which the Labor government supports - becomes less certain. </p>
<p>If the “no” vote succeeds, as <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-yes-voice-campaign-is-far-outspending-no-in-online-advertising-but-is-the-message-getting-through-213749">polling suggests is likely</a>, it will be interesting to observe how other governments and people around the world respond to the result (if at all) and how the Australian government will seek to manage any international fallout.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213764/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Strating receives funding from a La Trobe University Synergy grant for this project. She is a recipient of external grant funding, including from the governments of Australia, United States, United Kingdom, the Philippines and Taiwan.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrea Carson receives funding from a La Trobe University Synergy grant for this project and from the Australian Research Council for a Discovery project on media and political trust.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Jackman is a past recipient of grants from the National Science Foundation (USA) and was one of the principal investigators of the Australian Election Survey (funded by the Australian Research Council).</span></em></p>A ‘no’ result in the vote could compromise Australia’s moral authority when it seeks to advocate or pressure other states on human rights issues.Rebecca Strating, Director, La Trobe Asia and Associate Professor, La Trobe University, La Trobe UniversityAndrea Carson, Professor of Political Communication, Department of Politics, Media and Philosophy, La Trobe UniversitySimon Jackman, Professor, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2130762023-09-07T11:14:11Z2023-09-07T11:14:11ZGrattan on Friday: Transport Minister Catherine King struggles to find a landing strip amid Qatar turbulence<p>A few days ago, the furore over the government’s rejection of Qatar Airways’ bid for more flights into major cities was all about cheaper tickets and additional seats.</p>
<p>Now the issue has doubled back to become, apparently, at least in part about the mistreatment of the Australian women who were hauled off a flight in 2020 and subjected to invasive body searches, after a newborn was found abandoned in Doha Airport. </p>
<p>Five of the women have a legal case on foot. It is back in the Federal Court on Friday for the 21st time.</p>
<p>Transport Minister Catherine King, in yet another attempt to explain, or dodge explaining, her rejection of the Qatar application, said on radio on Thursday morning that the 2020 incident “wasn’t a factor in the decision, but it was certainly context for the decision”. </p>
<p>This is as baffling as most of the other explanations King and other government members have given. Isn’t “context” a “factor”?</p>
<p>Well yes, it seems. Only an hour or so earlier, at a crack-of-dawn news conference at Canberra airport, where she released a green paper on aviation policy, King suggested the 2020 incident was a factor, although “there was no one factor that influenced my decision in relation to the national interest”. She argued: “I don’t think it’s helpful for me to point to any one factor.” </p>
<p>On Thursday night on the ABC, she did spell out some factors – what was happening in the aviation market, capacity coming back into the market, jobs.</p>
<p>While initially it was thought the 2020 incident might have been a reason behind the decision, King had subsequently indicated that it was not, finally settling on this nebulous concept of the “national interest” to justify the government’s stance. </p>
<p>But the 2020 incident has hung there in the background of the controversy. On July 10, the day she made the decision, King wrote to the five women, who had contacted her strongly opposing the additional access, to assure them Qatar was not being considered for more flights. </p>
<p>In their letter the women had said the airline was “not fit to carry passengers around the globe let alone to major Australian airports”. </p>
<p>“When you are considering Qatar Airways’ bid for extra landing rights, we beg you to consider its insensitive and irresponsible treatment of us,” they wrote. “We implore you to instead consider an airline that will uphold human rights.” </p>
<p>On Monday this week, Foreign Minister Penny Wong had a phone conversation with the prime minister of Qatar. </p>
<p>Wong has said that in the call, which she initiated, they discussed bilateral matters, as well as multilateral issues ahead of the United Nations UN General Assembly meeting later in the month. They did discuss the 2020 incident; they did not canvass the flights matter. That seems extraordinary. After all, the Qatar government owns Qatar Airways and flights involve country-to-country agreements.</p>
<p>Could this resurrection of the 2020 incident be one way of seeking to neutralise an issue that has been debated – to the Albanese government’s detriment – in terms of limiting competition? </p>
<p>King insists she made the decision herself. She says she consulted colleagues, whom she doesn’t name. She has fudged when probed about what her department recommended. She said she told Anthony Albanese of the decision before it became public later in July, but stonewalled when pressed in parliament for the date on which she informed the prime minister. </p>
<p>Before the attention focused on King, Albanese was copping the heat, because the decision was seen to be in line with his perceived closeness to former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce (who quit prematurely this week, as part of that airline’s attempt to quell public anger at it). </p>
<p>King, from the left, is one of the longest-serving House of Representative members, having won the Victorian seat of Ballarat in 2001 from the Coalition. She was briefly in the ministry in 2013, at the tail end of the former Labor government. </p>
<p>Transport wouldn’t have been King’s first choice of portfolio. She was shadow health minister (she had a background in health policy) for two terms under Bill Shorten, and looked forward to being health minister after the election Labor thought it would win in 2019. The unexpected loss meant major changes in the frontbench under Albanese, which saw King moved to infrastructure, transport and regional development.</p>
<p>King will survive this imbroglio, but the affair is salutary for the Albanese government. </p>
<p>Much of the trouble over the Qatar decision comes from public anger about Qantas and its poor service and arrogant attitude. The rejection of the Qatar flights, which benefited Qantas, became a lightning rod. The government failed to pick up on the strength of feeling about Qantas – if it had, Albanese might not have appeared with Joyce at the airline’s recent event to back the Voice, including with travel assistance for “yes” campaigners.</p>
<p>The Qatar matter shows the government can’t just expect to fob off questions by invoking generalities such as the “national interest”. It also reaffirms the point that while parliament’s question time is mostly useless, it can on occasion expose the weaknesses of a minister under pressure.</p>
<p>Finally, there is a lesson here about the role of cabinet. King might argue such decisions are “routine” and say she consulted (unspecified) colleagues, but the matter would have been better taken to cabinet. A cabinet discussion can tease out competing arguments for and against a decision, and reinforce a government’s case. In her defence in parliament, King tried to make a virtue of ministerial autonomy, but it doesn’t always serve a government. </p>
<p>Thanks to its own bungling, the government on Tuesday facilitated the Senate setting up an inquiry this week that will do a deep dive into its mishandling of the Qatar affair. </p>
<p>Nationals senate leader Bridget McKenzie proposed the inquiry. The government got the Greens onside to vote against it, by accommodating their push for another inquiry – into the Middle Arm export facility in the Northern Territory. </p>
<p>But it neglected to attempt to peel off other crossbenchers until the very last moment. McKenzie had already done the rounds. On Thursday, the government did manage to tweak the terms of reference to look back into some of the Coalition’s years.</p>
<p>Courtesy of the inquiry, a good deal more is expected to emerge about this imbroglio.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213076/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>At a crack-of-dawn news conference at Canberra airport, King suggested the 2020 incident was a factor, although “there was no one factor that influenced my decision in relation to the national interest”.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2124482023-08-30T09:25:36Z2023-08-30T09:25:36ZView from The Hill: Australians go into the referendum divided – can the country emerge united?<p>The stakes in the October referendum are high. For Anthony Albanese, who has made the Voice his great social cause of his first term. For Peter Dutton, who has defied those who say he is on the “wrong side of history”. </p>
<p>For those Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who look to the referendum for affirmation of their special place in our society, as well as giving them a chance for some tangible improvements in their lives and opportunities. </p>
<p>For Australia’s international reputation. </p>
<p>The latest polling has put the “no” side ahead, after a slide over the months in the initial substantial support for the constitutional amendment. History is on the “no” side. Only eight of 44 referendum questions have been carried since federation. </p>
<p>But the result remains open, at the start of this campaign. Both sides accept there is a substantial bloc of uncommitted voters, as well as others, presently nominally in the “yes” or “no” camps, who are “soft” and thus open to persuasion. </p>
<p>Many voters haven’t yet tuned in; this is unsurprising, especially when the cost of living is dominating so many people’s attention. </p>
<p>The strength of support from younger voters, a lot of them still unengaged, will be a crucial factor in the outcome. </p>
<p>Albanese will be prominent in the campaign, but it won’t fill his calendar, according to his office. This is not an election. Indeed in a few days the PM is off overseas, visiting Indonesia and the Philippines ahead of the G20 meeting in India. The government says it wants this campaign to be grassroots-led. Yes23 already has some 28,000 volunteers in the field door-knocking. </p>
<p>If the “no” side won, it would be a significant blow to Albanese. This might not translate into a longer problem for the Labor vote, because the caravan would move on: people would make their judgements on Labor versus the Coalition on other grounds. But the interesting thing would be whether Albanese’s authority among his colleagues would be diminished. Would cabinet ministers become more inclined to question his judgement? </p>
<p>Looking ahead, a re-elected Labor government would have to think twice, or thrice, about going ahead with a referendum for a republic if it couldn’t carry one for the Voice.</p>
<p>Conversely, a win would strengthen even further the PM’s authority. Dutton would take a hit, especially in current and potential “teal” seats – those seats the Liberals need to win back or prevent from falling at the next election. The Voice has already set Liberals against each other – whichever way the vote goes, Dutton will have to rebuild unity. </p>
<p>The government would try to heap as much blame as possible on the opposition in the event of a “no” victory, but the cost to Dutton would probably be overshadowed by the wider fallout. And blame-shifting would involve saying the electorate got it wrong, which is always tricky. </p>
<p>A loss would be devastating for Indigenous people, even accepting that not all of them support the “yes” case. It would invite despondency, unleash anger, strengthen the radical activists in the Indigenous community, and deeply harm reconciliation. It would be the end of what many saw as a new beginning.</p>
<p>On the other hand, a “yes” result would start another long journey. Most immediately, that would involve putting together the Voice itself, about which the government has only been willing to specify the barest bones. The task wouldn’t be easy, involving fresh consultations with Indigenous people and, almost certainly, a good deal of argument. </p>
<p>That would be followed by activity on treaty and truth telling, to which the government is committed under its pledge of support for the Uluru Statement from the Heart as a whole. </p>
<p>In future years, the worth of a successful referendum would be judged, in part, by whether the Voice did in fact contribute to noticeably better outcomes in closing the gap in health, education, housing, employment and other markers of equality, fairness and opportunity. </p>
<p>Would it turn out to be a cohesive, informed, influential body, or fall victim to politics, internal or external? In a decade, would it be seen as a failure or a facilitator? </p>
<p>Other countries mightn’t be hanging out for the referendum result, but it will be noticed internationally – or at least, its defeat would be. </p>
<p>On Monday, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop campaigned together in Perth for the “yes” case. A sparky pair, these two, in their very different ways. </p>
<p>Bishop, who is now Chancellor of the Australian National University, warned: “Australia’s international reputation can be affected by a ‘no’ vote. </p>
<p>"I have no doubt that it would be sending a very negative message about the openness, and the empathy, and the respect and responsibility that the Australian people have for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders,” she said.</p>
<p>The referendum campaign will, unfortunately but inevitably, sharply divide the country. For voters, a crucial question should be, what outcome will leave Australia most united afterwards?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212448/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>History is on the “no” side. Only eight of 44 referendum questions have been carried since federationMichelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2112602023-08-09T06:18:55Z2023-08-09T06:18:55ZAustralia’s decision to again use the term ‘occupied Palestinian territories’ brings it into line with international law<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541875/original/file-20230809-15-rubvll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Darren England/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia’s minister for foreign affairs, Penny Wong, has <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Hansard/Hansard_Display?bid=chamber/hansards/27121/&sid=0000">announced</a> Australia will return to use of the term “occupied Palestinian territories”. </p>
<p>The Australian government will use this phrase to describe the territories in the West Bank and Gaza that Israel <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2018/6/4/the-naksa-how-israel-occupied-the-whole-of-palestine-in-1967">occupied</a> in 1967. </p>
<p>Australian officials have generally <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/aug/08/australia-to-officially-resume-use-of-term-occupied-palestinian-territories-reversing-coalition-stance">avoided</a> the use of “occupied” and “occupation” in relation to Palestine since 2014.</p>
<p>This move by Australia is an important means of signalling condemnation of Israel’s expansion of illegal <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/6/26/israel-approves-plans-for-thousands-of-illegal-settlement-homes">settlements</a> on Palestinian lands. It reorients Australia towards the orthodox position on the occupation under international law.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1688744744221122560"}"></div></p>
<p>It has been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/aug/08/australia-to-officially-resume-use-of-term-occupied-palestinian-territories-reversing-coalition-stance">reported</a> that some at the upcoming Labor national conference will agitate for the government to recognise Palestinian statehood. </p>
<p>Former Labor foreign minister Gareth Evans <a href="https://theconversation.com/gareth-evans-the-case-for-recognising-palestine-207624">argues</a> the time is right for the government to make such a move. He notes that 138 of the UN’s 193 member states have already done so.</p>
<p>There is no legal bar to Australia recognising Palestine as a state. Rather, it would be a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/religion/no-legal-impediment-to-australian-recognition-of-palestine/102679696">political decision </a> for the government of the day, aimed at promoting the long called-for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/29/world/middleeast/israel-palestinians-two-state-solution.html">two-state solution</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/gareth-evans-the-case-for-recognising-palestine-207624">Gareth Evans: the case for recognising Palestine</a>
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<h2>The position under international law</h2>
<p>Since the United Nations (UN) was established in 1945, the status of Palestine has been a perennial question of modern international law. The UN General Assembly and Security Council have resolved that Israel violates the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter/chapter-1">prohibition</a> on the use of force through its occupation of Palestinian territories. Palestine has held the special status of “<a href="https://www.un.org/unispal/history/">non-member observer state</a>” in the UN since 2012. </p>
<p>In 2004, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) gave an advisory opinion on the implications of Israel’s construction of a wall in the occupied Palestinian territories. The ICJ <a href="https://www.icj-cij.org/case/131">concluded</a> the wall served to protect illegal settlements, shore up annexation of Palestinian lands and deny self-determination for the Palestinian people.</p>
<p>The UN’s longstanding condemnation of Israel’s occupation was reasserted in a General Assembly <a href="https://www.un.org/unispal/document/res-77-247/">resolution</a> on December 30 2022. The resolution noted Israel’s obligations, as the occupying power, to:</p>
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<li><p>comply with the Geneva Conventions on the protection of civilians during war</p></li>
<li><p>cease violating the human rights of the Palestinian people</p></li>
<li><p>cease efforts to modify Palestinian territory through illegal settlements, and bring an end to the occupation</p></li>
<li><p>stop construction and dismantle the wall it has been constructing in the occupied territories</p></li>
<li><p>respect the right to self-determination of the people of Palestine and the territorial unity of the occupied territories </p></li>
<li><p>end the blockade of the Gaza strip and other onerous limitations on freedom of movement for people and goods.</p></li>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-can-live-with-either-one-palestine-israel-and-the-two-state-solution-73436">'I can live with either one': Palestine, Israel and the two-state solution</a>
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<p>The General Assembly also took the significant step of requesting a new advisory opinion from the ICJ on the legal implications of Israel’s continuing occupation. In January 2023 the UN secretary-general submitted the following <a href="https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/186/186-20230117-REQ-01-00-EN.pdf">questions</a> to the ICJ:</p>
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<li><p>What are the legal consequences arising from the ongoing violation by Israel of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, from its prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and from its adoption of related discriminatory legislation and measures?</p></li>
<li><p>How do the policies and practices of Israel […] affect the legal status of the occupation, and what are the legal consequences that arise for all States and the United Nations from this status?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>The ICJ is now reviewing submissions by UN member states on these questions. It is likely some submissions will explicitly raise the question of whether Israel’s policies and practices in Palestine amount to the crime of <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/27/threshold-crossed/israeli-authorities-and-crimes-apartheid-and-persecution">apartheid</a>.</p>
<h2>What happens now?</h2>
<p>The ICJ’s eventual advisory opinion will not be a <a href="https://www.diakonia.se/ihl/news/the-forthcoming-icj-advisory-opinion-and-the-question-of-palestine-2/">binding</a> decision on Israel. However, it will be an authoritative view by the world court. Based on extensive precedent in international law and practice, the ICJ will surely conclude that Israel remains in illegal occupation of Palestine. </p>
<p>The Australian government’s reorientation on the status of Palestine is aligned with international law and state practice. Australia, along with all UN member states, is <a href="https://www.un.org/unispal/document/res-77-247/">obliged</a> to promote respect for international law and universal human rights.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211260/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy Maguire does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Since 2014, Australian officials have generally avoided using the terms “occupied” or “occupation” in relation to Palestine. That has now changed.Amy Maguire, Associate Professor in Human Rights and International Law, University of NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2084652023-06-26T04:18:30Z2023-06-26T04:18:30ZAustralia announces $110 million in new military and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine<p>Australia will provide $110 million in further assistance to Ukraine, bringing its total support to $790 million during the conflict. </p>
<p>The new package includes 70 military vehicles, artillery ammunition and $10 million to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which manages the Ukrainian Humanitarian Fund, to assist with shelter, health services, clean water and sanitation. </p>
<p>Australia will also extend duty-free access for goods imported from Ukraine for another year. </p>
<p>Of the total $790 million Australia has provided, $610 million has been in military assistance. </p>
<p>But Australia still has not returned its ambassador back to Ukraine, despite many other countries having done so. </p>
<p>Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the extra support “will make a real difference, helping the Ukrainian people who continue to show great courage in the face of Russia’s illegal, unprovoked and immoral war”. </p>
<p>Defence Minister Richard Marles said Australia was “one of the largest non-NATO contributors in support of Ukraine, and will continue to support Ukraine to end the war on its own terms”.</p>
<p>Foreign Minister Penny Wong said “Russia cannot be allowed to infringe upon another country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”. </p>
<p>Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, welcomed the latest assistance, pointing to the importance of transportation capability in the war, and expressing his thanks to the prime minister. </p>
<p>Opposition leader Peter Dutton said the package didn’t go far enough: “this has taken too long and is too little”. </p>
<h2>Russia loses court bid over embassy lease</h2>
<p>Meanwhile, the High Court on Monday dismissed Russia’s attempt to challenge the government’s cancellation of its lease of a site for a proposed new embassy near Parliament House. The lease was quashed on security grounds. </p>
<p>Albanese told the media: “The court has made clear that there is no legal basis for a Russian presence to continue on the site at this time, and we expect the Russian Federation to act in accordance with the court’s ruling”.</p>
<p>Soon after the decision, a Russian diplomat who had been squatting on the site departed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208465/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The new package includes military vehicles, artillery ammunition and $10 million for a UN humanitarian agency.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2078402023-06-15T11:41:43Z2023-06-15T11:41:43ZGrattan on Friday: Liberals come a cropper when they try to dig afresh into the Brittany Higgins story<p>Two women ended up in tears in the Senate this week, as the Higgins imbroglio exploded yet again and in the process claimed a scalp. </p>
<p>But the scalp wasn’t that of Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, who was targeted by the Liberals. </p>
<p>Instead it was one of the Liberals’ own, David Van, <a href="https://theconversation.com/peter-dutton-expels-senator-david-van-from-liberal-party-room-after-more-allegations-against-him-207826">who was banished from the Liberal party room by Peter Dutton</a>, after allegations from crossbencher Lidia Thorpe that the Victorian senator had sexually assaulted her, a claim he strongly denied.</p>
<p>The Liberals knew their pursuit of Gallagher for allegedly misleading parliament over her knowledge of the Brittany Higgins matter would carry some political risk. But they could never have imagined they’d be damaged in such a dramatic fashion, ceding one of their senators to the crossbench.</p>
<p>Federal politics, the tone of which has been better than in the last parliamentary term, once again descended into a toxic mire. </p>
<p>Van’s spectacular fall began with Thorpe (formerly with the Greens) on Wednesday shouting interjections when he was speaking about Labor’s attacks on Liberal women over the Higgins issue, and parliamentary standards. <a href="https://theconversation.com/lidia-thorpe-alleges-she-was-sexually-assaulted-by-liberal-senator-david-van-a-claim-he-brands-disgusting-207748">She alleged he’d “harassed” and “sexually assaulted” her</a>, which he immediately rejected.</p>
<p>In a broader set of allegations on Thursday, in which she didn’t specifically name Van, a tearful Thorpe said: “I experienced sexual comments, and was inappropriately propositioned by powerful men. One man followed me and cornered me in a stairwell.</p>
<p>"There are different understandings of what amounts to sexual assault. What I experienced was being followed, aggressively propositioned and inappropriately touched. I was afraid to walk out of the office door. I would open the door slightly and check the coast was clear before stepping out,” she said. </p>
<p>“To me it was sexual assault, and the [Morrison] government at the time recognised it as such,” she said, because it immediately moved the person’s office.</p>
<p>Between late Wednesday and Thursday morning, other allegations about Van came to Dutton, with former Liberal senator Amanda Stoker confirming to him that Van had groped her. </p>
<p>Stoker later publicly recounted how “in November 2020 Senator Van inappropriately touched me at an informal social gathering in a parliamentary office. He did so by squeezing my bottom twice. By its nature and by its repetition, it was not accidental. That action was not appropriate. It was unprofessional and uninvited.” Van subsequently apologised.</p>
<p>Even if it hadn’t inadvertently blown itself up, the Coalition was always going to struggle with its attack on Gallagher. The minister, with caucus – in Anthony Albanese’s words – “1000%” behind her, could simply stare down her interrogators, although that meant enduring a good deal of heat. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/word-from-the-hill-coalition-attacks-on-katy-gallagher-voice-losing-traction-future-fund-holdout-207739">Word from The Hill: Coalition attacks on Katy Gallagher, Voice losing traction, future fund holdout</a>
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<p>Gallagher’s 2021 claim, at a Senate estimates hearing, that she had no prior knowledge of Higgins’ allegation she was raped, was wrong, and therefore misled parliament.</p>
<p>Indeed, Gallagher had admitted privately to Liberal then-minister Linda Reynolds on that same night that she had some prior knowledge. This week she refused to be drawn on details of her interactions around receiving this information, leaving the opposition empty-handed. She did say – a crucial point – <a href="https://theconversation.com/katy-gallagher-says-she-didnt-alert-albanese-or-wong-to-the-pending-brittany-higgins-interview-207627">that she hadn’t passed on the information</a>, obtained from Higgins and her partner David Sharaz, to Albanese or Labor’s Senate leader, Penny Wong. </p>
<p>Labor has been able to deploy effectively the argument that by revisiting the Higgins issue the Liberals will discourage women coming forward with allegations they have been assaulted. Albanese said: “My concern here is that we know that about 13% of sexual assault victims actually take action, go forward to police. And I’m worried that the focus that is going on at the moment will have a triggering effect and will deter people from coming forward.”</p>
<p>The debate also turned to the ethics of the disclosure of previously private communications, most notably the leaked text messages between Sharaz and Higgins. </p>
<p>This disclosure – involving court material – was widely condemned, and the Liberals struggled to win their argument that however the material became public, they were perfectly justified in dealing with the content. The opposition maintained it was pursuing accountability, but that was blurred by the counter argument about Higgins’ right of privacy.</p>
<p>The latest round of the Higgins issue has also been entangled in what we can call the media wars. The disclosure of the texts and other material has been spearheaded by The Australian, which has given massive coverage to changing the narrative of the Higgins story, in a direction that is less favourable to her. Some other sections of the media were not keen to follow up The Australian’s stories. </p>
<p>While Gallagher’s survival was always guaranteed, the attacks have taken their toll. By Thursday she was teary, lamenting that the work done on having women treated better and encouraging them to come forward when something happened to them had been set back.</p>
<p>She also conceded: “I am sorry Senator Reynolds is clearly upset about what happened to her. I am sorry about that. And I told her that.</p>
<p>"But I am also very sorry for Brittany Higgins, I’m sorry documents about her personal life have been leaked, I’m sorry a confidential draft claim for compensation [for Higgins] found its way onto the front pages of a national newspaper.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-brittany-higgins-story-continues-its-damaging-trail-with-no-end-in-sight-207500">View from The Hill: Brittany Higgins story continues its damaging trail, with no end in sight</a>
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<p>The Higgins story has a cast of women. Not just the young woman, a former Liberal staffer, who made the rape allegation. Women were on the front line of the political battle around that story: in 2021 then-ministers Reynolds and Michaelia Cash and Labor spear carriers Wong, Gallagher and then-senator Kristina Keneally.</p>
<p>In the media, women broke the story: Sam Maiden (News Corp) and Lisa Wilkinson (Ten). Janet Albrechtsen (The Australian) has led the counter-narrative. </p>
<p>The separate events that took centre stage this week regarding Gallagher and Van all happened some years ago. In the wake of the damning 2021 Jenkins report on behaviour in parliament house, that workplace has seen reforms, with new independent processes for providing support and handling complaints. People report conduct has improved.</p>
<p>Regardless of this, many members of the public, hearing the news reports of this week, will conclude little has changed. And some voters might think politicians should be talking less about their workplace and more about the issues confronting those in the world outside. </p>
<p>FRIDAY UPDATE: DUTTON SAYS VAN SHOULD QUIT PARLIAMENT </p>
<p>Peter Dutton has said that it would be “in everyone’s best interests” if Van resigned from parliament. “And I hope he’s able to do that sooner than later.” The opposition leader also revealed he was aware of another allegation against Van.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207840/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Federal politics, the tone of which had seemed better than in the last parliamentary term, once again descended into a toxic mire.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2059332023-05-18T09:58:40Z2023-05-18T09:58:40ZGrattan on Friday: Albanese governs on softly-softly catchee monkey formula. Would Plibersek or Chalmers have been bolder?<p>Reading Margaret Simons’ recently released biography of Tanya Plibersek brought to mind an interesting question. What sort of Labor government would we have if Plibersek, rather than Anthony Albanese, had become Labor leader in 2019, and then won the 2022 election? </p>
<p>Or, indeed, what if Jim Chalmers – who like Plibersek (and Chris Bowen) flirted with a run in 2019 – had contested and secured the leadership and the election? </p>
<p>Plibersek and Albanese, both from the left and both holding inner-Sydney electorates, have been long-term rivals; Albanese looked over his shoulder at her when he was opposition leader. Then after the election the new prime minister surprised Plibersek by moving her out of education into the environment portfolio. </p>
<p>He also stripped her of the women’s portfolio, giving it to the incoming finance minister, Katy Gallagher, a decision hard to understand considering Plibersek’s background in the area and how demanding the finance job is. </p>
<p>Like Albanese, Plibersek is pragmatic, but probably hasn’t moved quite so far to the centre as he has. If she were running things, would this Labor government have a more radical tinge? </p>
<p>As it is, Plibersek finds herself in the unenviable position of being the minister deciding the fate of coal and gas projects, defending decisions from criticism from the Greens, who have been loudly demanding a ban on new fossil fuel projects and have their eye on Plibersek’s seat when she eventually leaves it. </p>
<p>A hypothetical Chalmers government raises the question of whether we’d have seen a bolder economic reform agenda early on. We can say, with a fair bit of certainty, that those controversial stage 3 tax cuts would have been refashioned in the October budget, because Chalmers wanted to do that but was overruled by Albanese. </p>
<p>Albanese will celebrate Sunday’s anniversary of his election victory in Japan, at the G7 meeting, to which Australia has been invited. That’s rather fitting, given that one – perhaps unexpected – feature of the PM’s first year in office is how enthusiastically he’s taken to the international stage, despite that not being his bailiwick when he was part of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government. </p>
<p>His recent trip to London for the coronation wasn’t rushed, as he made the most of the chance for talks. He said at the time that “we don’t share land borders with anyone else so you have to take every opportunity at events such as this to develop relationships”.</p>
<p>Hosting the Quad meeting in Sydney next week was to culminate Albanese’s busy and successful foreign policy year, before President Joe Biden pulled out because of the US gridlock over the debt ceiling. While some commentators saw this as a snub to Australia, that seems a huge stretch, given Biden’s circumstances and the fact the Quad leaders will all be at the G7 meeting and can caucus together there. Albanese, however, was anxious to point out he has a state visit to the US coming up later this year. </p>
<p>In foreign affairs (and leaving aside AUKUS), the most notable feature of Labor’s first year has been the thaw in the relationship with China. It is starting to bring economic dividends with the loosening of the trade restrictions that country imposed - this week saw a breakthrough on timber exports - though it has a way to go. The better relationship has been driven partly by the change of government, and partly by a change in China’s wider foreign policy stance. </p>
<p>As foreign minister, Penny Wong has won wide praise over the past year, but she has also attracted the sharpest attack of any senior minister from within the wider Labor family. Who can forget Paul Keating’s very personal excoriation of her after a major address: “I never expected more than platitudes from Penny Wong’s Press Club speech and, as it turned out, I was not disappointed.”</p>
<p>Within foreign policy circles, people are divided over Wong’s depth as a policy thinker. Within the caucus she is seen as a star. </p>
<p>Chalmers’ first year in government has been especially closely watched not just because of his pivotal treasury role but because he is regarded as a potential successor to Albanese. </p>
<p>It’s been clear, from how he conducts himself, that he sees himself that way. He is a hyperactive (and effective) communicator. He interprets his economic brief widely and he lays down markers for the future, as with his Monthly essay on “values-based” capitalism. </p>
<p>Chalmers fights his battles within the tent and doesn’t let whatever frustrations he might have come out in his public demeanour. He’s there for the long haul, but economic factors beyond his control will be crucial in how that works out for him. </p>
<p>A feature of this initial year of the government has been the discipline in its senior ranks. There have been no ministerial scandals, let alone resignations, and any cabinet-level policy struggles been have been contained. (Significantly, however, we are starting to see some backbench stirring on issues – on welfare assistance before the budget, and negative gearing subsequently.) </p>
<p>Mostly, ministerial lips have been zipped. Leaks have been few. Plibersek must have been unhappy about how she was treated but you would never have known. The Albanese camp used to be suspicious of Bill Shorten and may still be. But Shorten, whatever his private political griefs, has been publicly a team player. And probably no other minister but Shorten, father of the NDIS, could get away with slashing the rate of growth of the scheme, to make it sustainable, as he has undertaken to do. </p>
<p>Labor’s review of the 2022 election laid down a prescription for the future. “By governing well, placing a high value on internal unity and stability, and drawing together voting constituencies around well-designed policies that attend to people’s needs, concerns and Australia’s national interest, the opportunity to establish a long-term Labor Government can be realised.” </p>
<p>This describes the Albanese softly-softy catchee monkey formula. Keep promises, build trust, don’t frighten the horses in the first term. Have the credibility to then take a more ambitious agenda to the election ahead of a second term. </p>
<p>It’s looking an effective way to operate. It is low risk. Except it does carry the risk that events might blow it off course so that by the time of the next election the government has to offer, not a bolder agenda, but another cautious one in order to survive.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205933/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Like Albanese, Plibersek is pragmatic, but probably hasn’t moved quite so far to the centre as he has. If she were running things, would this Labor government have a more radical tinge?Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2045362023-05-09T01:50:37Z2023-05-09T01:50:37ZWith independence off the table for now, what’s next for New Caledonia’s push for self-determination?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524818/original/file-20230508-174052-qxlqc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=98%2C12%2C7873%2C5444&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mathurin Derel/AP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s <a href="https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/penny-wong/speech/address-new-caledonias-congress">visit to New Caledonia</a> a few weeks ago made few headlines. In fact, it barely made the news. </p>
<p>Yet, her visit came at a crucial juncture for the French overseas territory, which is trying to negotiate a viable path towards a lasting self-determination, which balances the rights of New Caledonia’s Indigenous populations with the political reality of three failed independence referendums.</p>
<p>A new country is still emerging just off Australia’s coast, albeit in a slow path towards decolonisation in a process guided, but not governed, by France. </p>
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<h2>Self-determination is not a straightforward path</h2>
<p>Officially, the subject of sovereignty has been put to bed for a while, with the defeat of the most recent referendum on full independence in late 2021. A large majority <a href="https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20211213-new-caledonia-says-non-to-breakaway-from-france-for-third-time-referendum-independence-kanak-flnks">voted to remain part of France</a>, albeit with a very low turnout rate. </p>
<p>However, the main pro-independence group, the <a href="https://www.cairn.info/la-presence-kanak--9782738103994-page-241.htm">Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front</a> (FLNKS) refused to recognise the result, as most Indigenous New Caledonians had boycotted the poll due to the traditional burial and mourning rituals following a high number of COVID deaths in the community.</p>
<p>Talks resumed in <a href="https://asiapacificreport.nz/2023/03/31/flnks-message-to-french-pm-about-kanak-humiliation-over-referendum/">Paris last month</a> around the validity of the third independence referendum in 2021 and on ways to devolve powers further. </p>
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<p>Even the fact the Ministry of Overseas France, which oversees France’s vast remaining colonial holdings, is still talking about these things is in stark contrast to the Anglo-Saxon, winner-takes-all approach to referendums. </p>
<p>Compare, for example, the United Kingdom government’s <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-top-court-rule-legality-new-scottish-independence-referendum-2022-11-23/">refusal to authorise a new independence referendum in Scotland</a>, despite 62% of Scots having voted to remain in the European Union in the Brexit vote. Nationalists there contend that conditions have fundamentally changed since the failed <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-61798553">2014 independence referendum</a>. </p>
<p>In the case of New Caledonia and other former French possessions, there is an understanding that issues as complex as Indigenous rights take time and patience to explain and execute. And that systems and institutions need time to gain trust. </p>
<p>Before Wong became the first <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/politics/article/2023/04/25/new-caledonia-the-stone-in-french-diplomacy-s-shoe_6024320_5.html">Australian minister ever to address New Caledonia’s Congress</a>, she first met representatives of the Customary Senate, a 16-member Indigenous body that consults with the government on issues related to the Indigenous Kanak people.</p>
<p>As Wong diplomatically put it in her <a href="https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/penny-wong/speech/address-new-caledonias-congress">address to the legislature</a>, “New Caledonia is at a complex, historic juncture”. Its path to decolonisation is not a straightforward question of restoring power to the traditional owners of the land. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-new-caledonias-final-independence-vote-could-lead-to-instability-and-tarnish-frances-image-in-the-region-172128">Why New Caledonia's final independence vote could lead to instability and tarnish France's image in the region</a>
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<h2>A unique power structure</h2>
<p>Indigenous Melanesians, who reclaimed the once-pejorative term “canaques” and adopted the word <a href="https://www.iwgia.org/en/kanaky-new-caledonia/4689-iw-2022-kanaky-new-caledonia.html">Kanak for themselves</a>, make up 40% of the population. A further 10% is made up of Polynesians (largely from Tahiti or another French Pacific territory, Wallis and Futuna).</p>
<p>Despite a long colonial history – first as a penal colony, and later as a destination for French free settlers – New Caledonia’s European population has only ever accounted for 40% of the population. Today, <a href="https://www.insee.fr/en/statistiques/4964074">around a quarter of the 270,000 New Caledonians</a> identify as having European heritage.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-new-caledonias-instability-is-not-just-a-problem-for-france-154567">Why New Caledonia's instability is not just a problem for France</a>
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<p>But almost as large as the European population are those of mixed heritage. A legacy of colonisation, workers from Vietnam, Vanuatu, Algeria and other former French colonies settled in New Caledonia, married and had children. These New Caledonians often hold the balance of power in the political process. </p>
<p>As a result, a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2760677">complex web of power-sharing structures</a> has emerged over the past 20 years to give a voice to all New Caledonians. There are three provincial governments. One, called South Province, is centred around the capital, Nouméa, on the main island and is home to two-thirds of the population and the majority of the economic activity. </p>
<p>To balance out the disproportionate power of Greater Nouméa, two other provinces, North and Loyalty Islands, were established. Both have Kanak majority populations.</p>
<p>This seemingly unwieldy power structure has been designed from the bottom up. The basic law of New Caledonia, as <a href="https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/loda/id/JORFTEXT000000393606">enshrined in an amendment to the French constitution</a>, is referred to as “organic law” because it is not prescriptive, but rather, flexible. </p>
<p>For example, while some local councils hold elections for the Customary Senate seats, others do not. This is true to the spirit of the organic law – that each Kanak tribe can determine its own system, under a broad umbrella. </p>
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<h2>Charting a path forward</h2>
<p>The French state has progressively devolved power to New Caledonia since the historic <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/new-caledonia/new-caledonia-country-brief">Nouméa Accord of May 1998</a>. Its predecessor, the Matignon Accord, was essentially a peace agreement that ended an occasionally bloody campaign for independence from France, led by the the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front. </p>
<p>Today, the coalition holds 20 of the 54 seats in the quasi-federal parliament that Wong addressed. And, in December, Louis Mapou became the first independence politician to hold the post of president of New Caledonia. </p>
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<p>The coalition’s mission remains a sovereign, independent New Caledonia, or Kanaky (<a href="https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/divers/Kanaky/180860">the group’s preferred name for the new country</a>). Yet, given the complex demographics, it has failed to win a majority in three referendums.</p>
<p>For now, the country remains a French territory, albeit one with substantial autonomy. France maintains responsibility for defence, internal security and currency controls. </p>
<p>But New Caledonia <a href="https://dpa.bellschool.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/publications/attachments/2021-01/dpa_discussion_paper_anthony_tutugoro_2020_05_incompatible_struggles_reclaiming_indigenous_sovereignty_and_political_sovereignty_in_kanaky_and_or_new_caledonia.pdf">now has many of the rights associated with statehood</a>, including a New Caledonian citizenship that sits alongside French. It now has the right to conduct foreign policy and trade talks with its Pacific neighbours. Japan recently opened a consulate in Nouméa and other countries are beefing up their presence to counter Chinese influence in the region. </p>
<p>This most recent devolution of powers made Nouméa an obvious stop for Wong, who also visited <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/Australia-foreign-minister-visits-Pacific-islands-with-eye-on-China">Tuvalu on the same trip</a>, completing her pledge to visit every member of the 17-member Pacific Islands Forum in her first year.</p>
<p>In doing so, on <a href="https://www.senat-coutumier.nc/aires-coutumieres/carte-des-autorites-coutumieres">Djubéa-Kaponé land</a>, she pledged deeper partnership with a key regional ally and one of the world’s largest nickel producers. And she gained insight into one of the world’s most ambitious power-sharing structures created since the fall of apartheid in South Africa.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204536/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Justin Wastnage has previously received funding from the French Ministry of Overseas France and has written a tourism guide to New Caledonia funded by the South Province government of New Caledonia. </span></em></p>Officially, sovereignty has been put to bed with three straight independence referendum defeats. But France is continuing to devolve powers to its territory in an ambitious power-sharing experiment.Justin Wastnage, Adjunct Industry Fellow, Griffith Institute for Tourism, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2039292023-04-17T08:27:26Z2023-04-17T08:27:26ZPaul Keating accuses Penny Wong of ‘platitudes’; she says he’s ‘diminished his legacy’<p>Former Prime Minister Paul Keating has launched an extraordinary fresh barrage of criticism against Foreign Minister Penny Wong, accusing her of delivering “platitudes” in her major foreign policy speech on Monday. </p>
<p>In a statement shortly after Wong addressed the National Press Club on “Australia’s interests in a regional balance of power”, Keating said she had provided no policy answers and had adopted the “binary” approach – in her case favouring the United States against China – that she warned others to avoid. </p>
<p>“Never before has a Labor government been so bereft of policy or policy ambition,” he said.</p>
<p>Earlier, answering a question about Keating’s recent cutting description of her “running around the Pacific Islands with a lei around her neck” handing out money, Wong said the former PM had “diminished” his legacy and the subject. </p>
<p>The latest vitriolic exchange reflects the long-running policy animosity between the two, particularly Keating’s hostility to Wong over the issue of China. </p>
<p>In her address, Wong condemned commentators and strategists who viewed what was happening in the region “simply in terms of great powers competing for primacy. </p>
<p>"They love a binary. And the appeal of a binary is obvious. Simple, clear choices. Black and white. But viewing the future of the region simply in terms of great powers competing for primacy means countries’ own national interests can fall out of focus.</p>
<p>"It diminishes the power of each country to engage other than through the prism of a great power.” </p>
<p>Wong stressed the need for countries “with an existential interest in regional peace and stability to press for the responsible management of great power competition”.</p>
<p>She said “strategic competition is not merely about who is top dog, who is ahead in the race, or who holds strategic primacy in the Indo-Pacific.</p>
<p>"It’s actually about the character of the region. It’s about the rules and norms that underpin our security and prosperity, that ensure our access within an open and inclusive region, and that manage competition responsibly.”</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/paul-keating-lashes-albanese-government-over-aukus-calling-it-labors-biggest-failure-since-ww1-201866">Paul Keating lashes Albanese government over AUKUS, calling it Labor's biggest failure since WW1</a>
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<p>She said Australia employed its own statecraft “toward shaping a region that is open, stable and prosperous. </p>
<p>"A predictable region, operating by agreed rules, standards and laws. Where no country dominates, and no country is dominated. A region where sovereignty is respected, and all countries benefit from a strategic equilibrium.”</p>
<p>In her speech, Wong flagged she would not be drawn into discussion of timelines and scenarios about Taiwan. That was “the most dangerous of parlour games”. </p>
<p>“A war over Taiwan would be catastrophic for us all,” she said; “our job is to lower the heat on any potential conflict”.</p>
<p>Wong said of the China relationsip: “the Albanese government will be calm and consistent”, cooperating where it could, disagreeing where it must and managing differences wisely. “We start with the reality that China is going to keep on being China.” </p>
<p>She said that in the pursuit of “strategic equilibrium with all countries exercising their agency to achieve peace and prosperity, America is central to balancing a multipolar region. Many who take self-satisfied potshots at America’s imperfections would find the world a lot less satisfactory if America ceased to play its role.”</p>
<p>Keating said: “In facing the great challenge of our time, a super-state resident in continental Asia and an itinerant naval power seeking to maintain primacy – the foreign minister was unable to nominate a single piece of strategic statecraft by Australia that would attempt a solution for both powers”. </p>
<p>Keating said Wong “went out of her way to turn her back on what she disparaged as ‘black and white’ binary choices, speaking platitudinally about keeping ‘the balance of power’, but having not a jot of an idea as to how this might be achieved.”</p>
<p>Wong had said she was “steadfast” in refusing to talk about regional flashpoints – “that is, refusing to talk about the very power issue which threatens the region’s viability. </p>
<p>"She told us she will turn her back on reality, speaking only in terms of ‘lowering the heat’ and the ‘benefit from a strategic equilibrium’, without providing one clue, let alone a policy, as to how that might be achieved”. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/time-to-grow-up-australias-national-security-dilemma-demands-a-mature-debate-202040">Time to grow up: Australia's national security dilemma demands a mature debate</a>
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<p>While Wong had eschewed “black and white” binary choices, she had then made such a choice herself, Keating said.</p>
<p>She had extolled the virtues of the US, “of it remaining ‘the central power’ – of ‘balancing the region’, while disparaging China as ‘intent on being China’”. </p>
<p>She had gone on to say “countries don’t want to live in a closed, hierarchical region, where the rules are dictated by a single major power to suit its own interests”, Keating said. </p>
<p>“Nothing too subtle about that,” he said. “She means China and is happy to mean China.</p>
<p>"This is the person claiming she does not wish to make binary choices. Yet tells us ‘we have to press for the management of great power competition’, while saying, ‘we want partners and not patriarchs’ but articulating not a jot of an idea of how that great power competition can be settled without war.”</p>
<p>Keating, who has been a strong critic of AUKUS, said Wong had said the advent of capability under AUKUS “will ‘change the calculus for any aggressor’ – of course, meaning China.</p>
<p>"As a middle power, Australia is now straddling a strategic divide, a divide rapidly becoming every bit as rigid as that which obtained in Europe in 1914. Australia’s major foreign policy task is to soften that rigidity by encouraging both the United States and China to find common cause and benefit in a peaceful and prosperous Pacific, ” Keating said. </p>
<p>“Nothing Penny Wong said today, on Australia’s behalf, adds one iota of substance to that urgent task.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203929/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The latest vitriolic exchange reflects the long-running policy animosity between the two, particularly Keating’s hostility to Wong over the issue of ChinaMichelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2033292023-04-11T06:25:27Z2023-04-11T06:25:27ZThere’s a growing gap between countries advancing LGBTQ+ rights, and those going backwards<p>Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong joined 50,000 people to march in support of queer rights across the Sydney Harbour Bridge for World Pride in early March. A week earlier, Albanese became the first sitting prime minister to march in Sydney’s Mardi Gras, something he’s done over several decades.</p>
<p>And yet at the same time, in another part of the world, Uganda’s parliament passed <a href="https://theconversation.com/ugandas-new-anti-lgbtq-law-could-lead-to-death-penalty-for-same-sex-offences-202376">a string of draconian measures</a> against homosexuality, including possible death sentences for “aggravated homosexuality”. Any “promotion” of homosexuality is also outlawed.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/ugandas-new-anti-lgbtq-law-could-lead-to-death-penalty-for-same-sex-offences-202376">Uganda's new anti-LGBTQ+ law could lead to death penalty for same-sex 'offences'</a>
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<p>Seven years ago, I co-wrote a book with Jonathan Symons called Queer Wars. Back then, we suggested there was <a href="https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/queer-wars-the-new-global-polarization-over-gay-rights">a growing gap</a> between countries in which sexual and gender diversity was becoming more acceptable, and those where repression was increasing. </p>
<p>Sadly, that analysis seems even more relevant today.</p>
<h2>A growing gap</h2>
<p>Some countries have been unwinding criminal sanctions around homosexuality, which are often the legacy of colonialism. This includes, in recent years, former British colonies <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/08/22/singapore-decriminalize-gay-sex">Singapore</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/06/indian-supreme-court-decriminalises-homosexuality">India</a>.</p>
<p>But others have been imposing new and more vicious penalties for any deviation from stereotypical assumptions of heterosexual masculine superiority (what Australian sociologist Raewyn Connell <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0891243205278639">terms</a> “hegemonic masculinity”).</p>
<p>Anti-gay legislation is currently pending in Ghana, which led US Vice President Kamala Harris to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-43822234">express concerns</a> on a recent visit.</p>
<p>These moves echo the deep homophobia of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has <a href="https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/putins-anti-gay-war-on-ukraine/">bizarrely linked</a> intervention in Ukraine to protecting traditional values against LGBTQ+ infiltration.</p>
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<p>Meanwhile, reports from Afghanistan suggest that anyone identified as “LGBT” is <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/01/26/afghanistan-taliban-target-lgbt-afghans">in danger of being killed</a>.</p>
<p>Indonesia recently passed legislation <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/06/indonesia-passes-legislation-banning-sex-outside-marriage">penalising all sex outside marriage</a>. This follows <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13639811.2022.2038871">years of anti-queer rhetoric</a> from Indonesian leaders and crackdowns in regional areas.</p>
<p>And while the Biden administration is supportive of queer rights globally, the extraordinary hysteria <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/07/cpac-anti-trans-rhetoric">around trans issues in the Republican Party</a> reminds us the West has no inherent claim to moral superiority.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-going-on-with-the-wave-of-gop-bills-about-trans-teens-utah-provides-clues-199851">What's going on with the wave of GOP bills about trans teens? Utah provides clues</a>
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<h2>Where to next?</h2>
<p>Speaking at the World Pride Human Rights Conference, both Wong and Attorney General Mark Dreyfus made it clear Australia would press for recognition of sexuality and gender identity as deserving protection, as part of <a href="https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/penny-wong/speech/sydney-worldpride-human-rights-conference-opening-statement">our commitment to human rights</a>.</p>
<p>Wong also announced a <a href="https://www.themandarin.com.au/213443-wong-announces-international-fund-for-lgbt-rights/">new Inclusion and Equality Fund</a> to support queer community organisations within our region.</p>
<p>Australian governments have usually been wary of loud assertions of support for queer rights. This is partly due to a reasonable fear this merely reinforces the perception that such language reflects <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/african-studies-review/article/abs/locating-neocolonialism-tradition-and-human-rights-in-ugandas-gay-death-penalty/33A06F4F33CF586E20E208BE790E71E0">a sense of Western superiority</a>, unwilling to acknowledge other societies may have very different attitudes towards gender and sexuality.</p>
<p>Australia is part of the Equal Rights Coalition, an intergovernmental body of 42 countries dedicated to the protection of the rights of LGBTQ+ people, and has supported sexual and gender rights in the <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/rights-and-freedoms/australias-second-universal-periodic-review-human-rights">country reviews</a> undertaken by the United Nations Human Rights Commission.</p>
<p>Australia has a minimal presence in Uganda, and direct representations are unlikely to have much effect. Uganda is a member of the Commonwealth, as are Ghana, Kenya and Zambia, where official homophobia appears to be increasing. But there’s little evidence the Australian government sees this as a significant foreign policy forum, or is prepared to push for sexual rights through its institutions.</p>
<p>As persecution on the basis of sexuality and gender identity increases, more people will seek to flee their countries. Queer refugees face double jeopardy: they’re not safe at home, but they’re often equally unsafe in their diasporic communities, which have inherited the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/01/lgbt-refugees-untold-story/">deep prejudices of their homelands</a>.</p>
<p>The UN’s refugee agency <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/lgbtiq-persons.html">reports</a> that most people seeking asylum because of their sexuality are unwilling to disclose this, because of discrimination within their own ethnic communities. This makes it impossible to have accurate numbers. But a clear signal from Australia would be a powerful statement of support – that it understands the situation and welcomes people who need flee because of their sexuality or gender expression.</p>
<p>An official Canadian government document <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/canada-role/2slgbtqi-plus.html">states</a>: </p>
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<p>Canada has a proud history of providing protection to and helping to resettle the world’s most vulnerable groups. That includes those in the Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and additional sexually and gender diverse community.</p>
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<p>Theirs is a model worth following.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203329/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dennis Altman is Patron of the Pride Foundation, which supports queer refugees and asylum seekers.</span></em></p>In March, Albanese joined 50,000 people to march in support of queer rights. At the same time, in another part of the world, Uganda passed a string of draconian anti-gay laws.Dennis Altman, VC Fellow LaTrobe University, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2018662023-03-15T05:58:33Z2023-03-15T05:58:33ZPaul Keating lashes Albanese government over AUKUS, calling it Labor’s biggest failure since WW1<p>Former Prime Minister Paul Keating has launched a swingeing attack on the Labor government over the AUKUS submarine agreement, accusing Anthony Albanese of relying on “two seriously unwise ministers, Penny Wong and Richard Marles”. </p>
<p>Keating lashed the deal for a tripartite build of nuclear-powered submarines as “the worst international decision by an Australian Labor government since the former Labor leader, Billy Hughes, sought to introduce conscription” in the first world war. </p>
<p>“We have gone from a defend Australia to a forward defence policy,” Keating said, while insisting China posed no threat to Australia. </p>
<p>He made his criticisms in a long speech and question-and-answer session at the National Press Club.</p>
<p>In a direct challenge to Albanese, Keating said: </p>
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<p>I dare the prime minister to explicitly suggest or leave open the question that Australia might go to war over Taiwan – at the urgings of the United States or anyone else. </p>
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<p>Keating said the Chinese had never implied or said they would threaten Australia. He added that threatening Australia would mean “an invasion”. </p>
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<p>It doesn’t mean firing a few missiles off the coast like the Japanese submarines did in 1943, firing a few things into the eastern suburbs of Sydney. </p>
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<p>It would mean bringing an armada of ships with a massive army to invade, which it would not be possible for the Chinese to do. “We wouldn’t need submarines to sink an armada,” he said.</p>
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<p>Keating said one of the critical problems in Australian policy was “that defence has overtaken foreign policy. As a consequence, we’re not using diplomacy.”</p>
<p>He recalled saying previously that Taiwan was not a vital interest of Australia’s – and that remained the case. </p>
<p>In earlier times, he said Labor has “invariably got the big international ones right”. This includes former Labor leaders Arthur Calwell <a href="https://sa.org.au/interventions/leftvietnam.htm">opposing</a> Australian military participation in the Vietnam war and Simon Crean <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/labor-s-decision-to-oppose-the-iraq-war-was-correct-history-shows-20180319-p4z51v.html">opposing</a> the Iraq war.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This one, AUKUS, is where Labor breaks its winning streak of now over a century.</p>
<p>Falling into a major mistake, Anthony Albanese, befuddled by his own small target election strategy, emerges as prime minister with an American sword to rattle at the neighbourhood to impress upon it the United States’ esteemed view of its untrammelled destiny.</p>
</blockquote>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/if-aukus-is-all-about-nuclear-submarines-how-can-it-comply-with-nuclear-non-proliferation-treaties-a-law-scholar-explains-201760">If AUKUS is all about nuclear submarines, how can it comply with nuclear non-proliferation treaties? A law scholar explains</a>
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<p>Labor quickly supported AUKUS while in opposition after then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced it with the US and UK leaders in 2021. </p>
<p>And after the announcement of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/aukus-submarine-plan-will-be-the-biggest-defence-scheme-in-australian-history-so-how-will-it-work-199492">submarine program details</a>, which could cost Australia up to A$368 billion over three decades, Albanese said “a new chapter in the relationship between our nation, the United States and the United Kingdom begins”.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515427/original/file-20230315-16-ld71lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515427/original/file-20230315-16-ld71lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515427/original/file-20230315-16-ld71lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515427/original/file-20230315-16-ld71lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515427/original/file-20230315-16-ld71lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515427/original/file-20230315-16-ld71lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515427/original/file-20230315-16-ld71lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Anthony Albanese (left), with US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the AUKUS announcement in San Diego.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Leon Neal/Getty pool/AP</span></span>
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<p>Keating said he had generally found Albanese to be responsive to his calls, texts and emails. But last month when he spoke to an Albanese staffer seeking a conversation with the PM especially about AUKUS, the message was delivered but Keating said he “heard nothing” from the prime minister. </p>
<p>“The fact is, he did not wish to hear the message or have the conversation,” he said. </p>
<p>Keating was especially scathing about Wong, the foreign minister, and Marles, the defence minister. </p>
<p>“Penny Wong took a decision in 2016, five years before AUKUS, not to be at odds with the Coalition on foreign policy on any core issue,” he said. Under this approach, “you may stay out of trouble but you are compromised. Self compromised.”</p>
<p>Though Keating said Marles was “well-intentioned”, he believed the defence minister was “completely captured by the idea of America.”</p>
<blockquote>
<p>And the then-opposition leader [Albanese] not ever having displayed any deep or long-term interest in foreign affairs, fell in with Wong and Marles as leader of the great misadventure. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Keating said Albanese this week “screwed into place the last shackle in the long chain the United States has laid out to contain China”.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>No mealy-mouthed talk of ‘stabilisation’ in our China relationship or resort to softer or polite language will disguise from the Chinese the extent and intent of our commitment to United States’ strategic hegemony in East Asia with all its deadly portents.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Among his targets, Keating also attacked Andrew Shearer, the head of the Office of National Intelligence, and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. He said, “remarkably, a Labor government has picked up Shearer’s neo-con proclivities and those of ASPI”, describing the latter as “a pro-US cell” headed by a former chief of staff to ex-Foreign Minister Marise Payne. </p>
<p>He also attacked journalists, including those asking questions, telling one he should hang his “head in shame” for the articles he had co-authored. </p>
<p>Keating said the majority of the Labor party in the branches would share his views, saying when the average branch member “gets onto this […] there will be a big reaction”. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/with-aukus-australia-has-wedded-itself-to-a-risky-us-policy-on-china-and-turned-a-deaf-ear-to-the-region-201757">With AUKUS, Australia has wedded itself to a risky US policy on China – and turned a deaf ear to the region</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201866/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The former prime minister also said Albanese was relying on two ‘seriously unwise’ ministers, Penny Wong and Richard Marles.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1967992022-12-19T03:00:22Z2022-12-19T03:00:22ZWong to visit Beijing as ‘strategic dialogue’ restarts in new breakthrough in Australia-China relations<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501773/original/file-20221219-14-7wh0l6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C8029%2C5357&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia’s relations with China will take another major step forward this week with Foreign Minister Penny Wong travelling to Beijing for the resumption of the bilateral Foreign and Strategic Dialogue, which has been on hold since 2018. </p>
<p>The latest breakthrough follows the meeting between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit. </p>
<p>Wong’s Wednesday talks coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Whitlam government establishing diplomatic relations with China on December 21 1972 – an anniversary the Chinese government had been indicating it wanted to mark. They are also part of a round of meetings with foreign ministers that China is conducting.</p>
<p>Australian exporters will hope the meeting paves the way to China easing the trade restrictions it has imposed on Australia. The improved relations may also be positive for detained Australians Cheng Lei and Yang Hengjun.</p>
<p>In a statement Albanese and Wong said: “In 1972, then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam took a bold decision, recognising the importance of engagement and cooperation between our two nations and peoples.</p>
<p>"In the decades since, China has grown to become one of the world’s largest economies and Australia’s largest trading partner.</p>
<p>"Trade between Australia and China, as well as strong people-to-people, cultural and business links have delivered significant benefits to both our countries.”</p>
<p>They said Wong was going to Beijing at the Chinese government’s invitation “to meet China’s State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wang Yi, and hold the 6th Australia–China Foreign and Strategic Dialogue”.</p>
<p>Albanese and Wong said they welcomed the opportunity to mark the anniversary of diplomatic relations. </p>
<p>“Australia seeks a stable relationship with China; we will cooperate where we can, disagree where we must and engage in the national interest.”</p>
<p>Albanese flagged this latest breakthrough on Friday’s podcast with The Conversation, although he did not specify the form it would take. </p>
<p>He said: “China is our major economic partner and I think in coming weeks you will see further measures and activities which indicate a much-improved relationship, which is in the interests of both of our countries, but importantly as well is in the interests of peace and security in the region.”</p>
<p>The thawing in relations, which began with overtures from China as soon as Labor was elected, came after the Chinese government had previously refused to even return the Morrison government’s phone calls. </p>
<p>China had been angered by the Coalition’s tough line on foreign interference and by its harsh rhetoric, for which then defence minister Peter Dutton was notable. Australia’s pressure for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19 was a high-profile source of tension. </p>
<p>The Albanese government has been aware of the need for caution as it looks to stabilise the relationship, repeatedly making it clear Australia would not give any concession to get an improvement. </p>
<p>Shadow foreign minister Simon Birmingham said the Coalition welcomed Wong’s plans to visit.</p>
<p>“Engagement between governments is essential to advance areas of mutual interest and to manage differences,” he said, but added that “the ultimate test of any dialogue lies in the outcomes achieved”. </p>
<p>“Minister Wong’s visit will be judged on progress towards the removal of unwarranted tariffs and sanctions on Australian exports; achieving fair and transparent treatment of Australians currently detained in China; advancing regional security via respect for international law; and securing greater transparency on human rights issues of concern,” Birmingham said. </p>
<p>“Australia should also continue to appeal for China to use its influence on Russia to end the immoral and illegal invasion of Ukraine.”</p>
<p>Birmingham said the Wong visit would be the first by an Australian minister since his final visit as trade minister in November 2019.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196799/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The latest breakthrough in the bilateral relationship follows the meeting between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1963462022-12-11T03:15:30Z2022-12-11T03:15:30ZAustralia announces ‘Magnitsky’ sanctions against targets in Russia and Iran. What are they and will they work?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500178/original/file-20221211-58774-uu9du9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong chose <a href="https://www.un.org/en/observances/human-rights-day">Human Rights Day</a> to announce Magnitsky-style sanctions against 13 Russian and Iranian individuals and two entities, in response to egregious human rights abuses. </p>
<p>Wong has described these sanctions as a means of holding human rights abusers to account, in situations where dialogue has proven ineffective.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1601354877417836544"}"></div></p>
<h2>What are Magnitsky sanctions?</h2>
<p>Magnitsky sanctions are named after <a href="https://www.billbrowder.com/sergei-magnitsky/">Sergei Magnitsky</a>, a Russian lawyer who was killed in prison for exposing corruption. Unlike more traditional sanctions targeting nation states, Magnitsky sanctions <a href="https://redress.org/magnitsky-sanctions/">freeze the assets</a> of targeted individuals and prevent them from travelling freely. </p>
<p>Sanctions are a well-known tool of the modern international legal system. They are referenced in Article 41 of the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter/full-text">United Nations Charter</a>, in the context of the Security Council’s role to protect international peace and security.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Security Council may decide what measures not involving the use of armed force are to be employed to give effect to its decisions, and it may call upon the Members of the United Nations to apply such measures. These may include complete or partial interruption of economic relations and of rail, sea, air, postal, telegraphic, radio, and other means of communication, and the severance of diplomatic relations.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The trade and financial embargo imposed on Iraq following its 1990 invasion of Kuwait was a prominent example of such sanctions. But sanctions against nation states may be blunt instruments impacting far beyond those responsible for violations of international law. The sanctions against Iraq under Saddam Hussein had dire <a href="https://merip.org/2020/06/the-enduring-lessons-of-the-iraq-sanctions/">humanitarian impacts</a> for the Iraqi population.</p>
<p>Magnitsky sanctions are novel in comparison - they target individuals and entities accused of perpetrating human rights abuses. The goal is to have a deterrent effect on the type of human rights abuser who funnels and flaunts wealth around the globe and offers support to corrupt and aggressive regimes. </p>
<p>Human rights barrister Geoffrey Robertson has described Magnitsky sanctions as a “<a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/bad-people-and-how-to-be-rid-of-them-9781761042423">Plan B</a>” for human rights. He envisages widespread cooperation among nation states to ostracise “people obnoxious enough to bear responsibility for torture and mass murder or for making massive profits out of child labour or modern slavery”. He writes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>International criminal law may not work well, but lists of particularly bad people, declared as such by tribunals of like-minded nations, checking and adopting each other’s decisions, would produce an international rogues’ gallery of people and companies to be denied entry and denied access to services and financial facilities.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1601341195053330434"}"></div></p>
<h2>Magnitsky sanctions under Australian law</h2>
<p>The Australian government has had the power to issue autonomous sanctions since parliament passed the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2021C00581">Autonomous Sanctions Act</a> in 2011. These are sanctions imposed by Australia unilaterally, rather than through the United Nations. </p>
<p>In 2021, parliament <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2021A00128">amended</a> this legislation to include Magnitsky-style sanctions powers.</p>
<p>These new powers permit the Australian government to issue “<a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp2223/Quick_Guides/AustralianSanctionsLaw">thematic sanctions</a>”. These are sanctions that target particular issues, including serious human rights abuses, threats to international peace and security, and malicious cyber activities.</p>
<p>Australia first <a href="https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/marise-payne/media-release/australias-first-magnitsky-style-sanctions#:%7E:text=Mr%20Magnitsky's%20case%20inspired%20an,they%20occur%20in%20the%20world.">imposed</a> Magnitsky sanctions in March this year. These targeted 39 Russian individuals who Australia held responsible for the corruption that Magnitsky exposed or for his torture and death.</p>
<p>But earlier this week, Australia was criticised for failing to use its Magnitsky powers since the initial announcement in March. <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/12/05/australia-use-magnitsky-style-sanctions-target-abusers">Human Rights Watch</a> called on Australia to coordinate with other nations and ensure the widest possible net is cast around human rights abusers. </p>
<h2>Targets of Australia’s second round of Magnitsky sanctions</h2>
<p>Australia’s <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/international-relations/security/sanctions/consolidated-list">Consolidated List</a> of targets has not yet been updated to show all those sanctioned on December 10. </p>
<p>Wong noted some targets are complicit in the oppression of the people of <a href="https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/penny-wong/media-release/targeted-sanctions-response-iranian-and-russian-human-rights-violations-and-invasion-ukraine">Iran</a> and recent violent crackdowns on protesters. Six Iranian individuals have been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/dec/10/australia-imposes-sanctions-on-irans-morality-police-and-13-russians-and-iranians">sanctioned</a>, including Hossein Ashtari - commander-in-chief of the Iranian police. Australia also sanctioned the Basij Resistance Force and Iran’s hardline “morality police”. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/who-are-irans-morality-police-a-scholar-of-the-middle-east-explains-their-history-196023">Who are Iran's morality police? A scholar of the Middle East explains their history</a>
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<p>Other targets include seven individuals Australia identifies as connected to the attempted assassination of Russian former opposition leader, <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2021/04/08/alexei-navalny-putin-can-t-afford-to-let-him-live-says-magnitsky-campaigner-bill-browder">Alexei Navalny</a>.</p>
<p>Beyond the human rights context, Australia is also <a href="https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/penny-wong/media-release/targeted-sanctions-response-iranian-and-russian-human-rights-violations-and-invasion-ukraine">targeting</a> Iranian individuals and entities supplying drones to Russia for use in its illegal war in Ukraine. </p>
<p>Wong said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Australian Government calls on countries to exert their influence on Russia to end its illegal, immoral war. Australia stands with the people of Ukraine and with the people of Iran. We employ every strategy at our disposal towards upholding human rights – ranging from dialogue and diplomacy to sanctions – consistent with our values and our interests.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>What can Magnitsky sanctions achieve?</h2>
<p>The United States passed the first Magnitsky law in 2012. This first law was Russia-focused, but it was followed in 2016 by the <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF10576">Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act</a>. Sanctions have since been issued against numerous targets from several countries. </p>
<p>One identified benefit is the capacity to target individuals without <a href="https://sgp.fas.org/crs/row/R46981.pdf">rupturing relations</a> with their home state.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2021/698791/EPRS_BRI(2021)698791_EN.pdf">Complementary laws</a> were subsequently passed by Canada, the United Kingdom and the European Union. One strategy of the Magnitsky sanctions regime is to build a cumulative effect, with multiple countries sanctioning the same targets to effectively constrain their finances and movement.</p>
<p>Most of these laws are very new. It is too early to judge how effective Magnitsky sanctions may prove to be. One obvious benefit to thematic sanctions is that they can allow <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2021/698791/EPRS_BRI(2021)698791_EN.pdf">swifter action</a> in response to human rights abuses. When a country like Australia has a thematic sanctions regime in place, it can act simply by adding new names as appropriate.</p>
<p>But the focus on individuals rather than nation states does not protect the implementing state from political repercussions. Australia has been reluctant to impose sanctions against Chinese officials responsible for human rights abuses in <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7988280/use-magnitsky-laws-to-sanction-chinese-officials-coalition/">Xinjiang</a>. It has been urged to <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/low-hanging-fruit-campaigner-urges-australia-to-go-after-chinese-and-russian-officials-20211202-p59e3d.html">join other countries</a> in that context to shield itself from exposure to Chinese state reprisals.</p>
<p>Australia is clearly taking a cautious and incremental approach to its early use of Magnitsky sanctions powers. Human rights advocates will apply pressure on the Australian government to expand its ambitions. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1601401296044847104"}"></div></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196346/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy Maguire does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>These new sanctions target individuals and entities rather than whole countries, in the hope of punishing the true perpetrators and avoiding the incidental suffering of innocent people.Amy Maguire, Associate Professor in Human Rights and International Law, University of NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1961182022-12-07T06:35:09Z2022-12-07T06:35:09ZAustralia and US take realist approach to regional influence<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499431/original/file-20221207-27-isifob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michael Reynolds/EPA/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defence Minister Richard Marles met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III for the Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN) in Washington, DC, on December 6. </p>
<p>While there is notable continuity with last year’s agenda, this year’s AUSMIN clearly bears the Albanese government’s foreign and defence policy imprint – one that has a receptive audience in the Biden administration.</p>
<p>With greater military co-operation, and a priority on climate action, the meeting outlines an agenda to vigorously compete with China for regional influence while advancing the alliance’s long-standing defence and security co-operation objectives.</p>
<h2>A realist shift from 2021</h2>
<p>There is a decidedly realist tone to this year’s AUSMIN, at least from Australia’s perspective. In her remarks at the <a href="https://www.state.gov/secretary-antony-j-blinken-defense-secretary-lloyd-austin-australian-foreign-minister-penny-wong-and-australian-deputy-prime-minister-and-minister-for-defense-richard-marles-at-a-joint-press-avail/">joint press conference</a>, Wong largely dispensed with talk of shared history and values. Instead, she cast AUSMIN as “the primary forum for us as an alliance […] to make progress on shared interests”.</p>
<p>Ideology has also taken a backseat. The emphasis on “democratic values” and human rights that occupied an entire section in last year’s joint statement has been condensed and accompanied by a more balanced assessment of China. This notes the need for responsible competition, risk reduction, and co-operation on issues of shared interest. </p>
<p>This year’s statement also sharpens the alliance’s focus on Australia’s region. The Pacific Islands are front and centre. There are four detailed paragraphs on how the Australia-US alliance is engaging these countries diplomatically, economically, militarily and in the maritime environment. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-apec-winds-up-summit-season-brought-successes-but-also-revealed-the-extent-of-global-challenges-193934">As APEC winds up, 'summit season' brought successes but also revealed the extent of global challenges</a>
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<p>From Wong’s relentless regional <a href="https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/penny-wong/speech/speech-pacific-islands-forum-secretariat">engagement</a> since taking office, to US President Joe Biden’s hosting of the first <a href="https://www.state.gov/u-s-pacific-islands-country-summit/">US-Pacific Islands Summit</a> in September, and <a href="https://asean.mission.gov.au/aesn/CSP.html#:%7E:text=On%252027%2520October%25202021%252C%2520at,Comprehensive%2520Strategic%2520Partnership%2520(CSP).">both</a> <a href="https://asean.usmission.gov/fact-sheet-president-biden-and-asean-leaders-launch-the-u-s-asean-comprehensive-strategic-partnership/">countries’</a> Comprehensive Strategic Partnerships with ASEAN, Australia and the United States have clearly increased their diplomatic engagements with these two vital subregions. </p>
<p>The focus on maritime security co-operation with the Pacific Islands, in particular, complements similar alliance activities in <a href="https://www.ussc.edu.au/analysis/australia-us-contributions-to-southeast-asian-maritime-security-resilience">South-East Asia</a>, where Australia and the United States should be looking to better integrate their respective lines of effort. </p>
<p>By contrast, there was no reference to the Afghanistan conflict or the threat of terrorism. The statement thus reflects the conclusion of the alliance’s Middle East period.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499456/original/file-20221207-24-2o3fgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499456/original/file-20221207-24-2o3fgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499456/original/file-20221207-24-2o3fgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499456/original/file-20221207-24-2o3fgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499456/original/file-20221207-24-2o3fgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499456/original/file-20221207-24-2o3fgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499456/original/file-20221207-24-2o3fgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Penny Wong’s efforts in the Pacific have been a focal point of her early months as foreign minister.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Australian Department of Foreign Affairs/AAP</span></span>
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<h2>Incremental steps in defence cooperation</h2>
<p>As we <a href="https://www.ussc.edu.au/analysis/ausmin-2022">predicted</a> last week, no new details of the AUKUS partnership were announced. However, Marles did emphasise the need to “uplift” Australia’s shipbuilding industry to meet the task. An update on export control reform was also not forthcoming, other than mentions of the need for “seamless” bilateral defence industrial co-operation.</p>
<p>On the alliance’s force posture initiatives, the meeting flagged some progress on key issues without making major new announcements. For instance, there will be an increase in the frequency and sophistication of US Air Force rotations through Australia, as heralded last year. By comparison, little was said about mooted US Army and Navy deployments to Australia.</p>
<p>Importantly, the statement identifies measures to strengthen the resilience and sustainability of combined Australia-US operations. This includes targeted logistics exercises and co-development of “agile logistics” capabilities, as well as efforts to enhance Australia’s ability to maintain and repair munitions in-country. This will be done by streamlining US technology transfer and information-sharing arrangements – measures that Marles <a href="https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/marless-focus-for-the-us-australia-alliance-integrate-integrate-integrate/">emphasised</a> during the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czfq1bYCaCI">joint press conference</a>. </p>
<p>Making good on these commitments will be critical to sustaining a higher tempo of joint operations in the region.</p>
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</figure>
<h2>Bringing Japan on board</h2>
<p>Perhaps the most eye-catching development is the invitation to Japan to “increase its participation in [US-Australia] Force Posture Initiatives”. Though short on specifics, this development underscores how the Australia-US alliance has become a <a href="https://www.9dashline.com/article/advancing-collective-defence-through-the-australia-us-alliance?rq=Tom%2520Corben">mechanism</a> for “advancing a strategy of collective defence among other Indo-Pacific allies”. </p>
<p>Future years could see larger and more frequent deployments of Japan Self-Defence Forces in more sophisticated bilateral and trilateral joint exercises. These forces would include <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/Indo-Pacific/Japan-sends-fighter-jets-to-Philippines-for-1st-time-in-air-force-exchange">fighter aircraft</a> and <a href="https://www.mod.go.jp/en/article/2021/08/e46ef03882f39c7d040c42d5213d446317636b61.html">marines</a> rotating through Australian facilities. </p>
<p>Indeed, this announcement is consistent with the trajectory of the Australia-Japan relationship set by the recently updated <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/countries/japan/australia-japan-joint-declaration-security-cooperation">Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation</a>. It makes the Australia-Japan 2+2 ministerial talks scheduled for Friday in Tokyo all the more interesting. Both countries are looking to take their defence co-operation, including with the United States, to the <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/U.S.-will-listen-more-to-Australia-and-Japan-if-they-speak-together">next level</a>.</p>
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<h2>Climate co-operation to the fore</h2>
<p>Wong emphasised climate co-operation as a primary area of joint collaboration. This is not entirely novel, as “climate, clean energy and the environment” received significant attention at AUSMIN <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/united-states-of-america/ausmin/joint-statement-australia-us-ministerial-consultations-ausmin-2021">2021</a>. There was also a brief mention in <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/united-states-of-america/ausmin/Pages/joint-statement-ausmin-2015#:%7E:text=Joint%2520Statement%2520AUSMIN%25202015%2520October%252013%252C%25202015%2520Minister,Boston%2520for%2520the%2520Australia-United%2520States%2520Ministerial%2520%2528AUSMIN%2529%2520consultations.">2015</a>. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, the framing of climate collaboration as one of three specific areas of focus (the others being engagement with South-East Asia and the Pacific Islands) reaffirms Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s and Biden’s November statement of climate partnership as a “new pillar” of the alliance.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499465/original/file-20221207-4529-gs1utb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499465/original/file-20221207-4529-gs1utb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499465/original/file-20221207-4529-gs1utb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499465/original/file-20221207-4529-gs1utb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499465/original/file-20221207-4529-gs1utb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499465/original/file-20221207-4529-gs1utb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499465/original/file-20221207-4529-gs1utb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The AUSMIN meeting brought climate co-operation to the fore, consolidating the discussions between Anthony Albanese and Joe Biden in November.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is likely to be well received by <a href="https://www.ussc.edu.au/analysis/an-incomplete-project-australians-views-of-the-us-alliance">domestic and regional audiences</a> alike. The <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/international-relations/joint-statement-australia-us-ministerial-consultations-ausmin-2022">2022</a> joint statement confirms the elevation of climate, with this issue addressed in second as opposed to fourth place in 2021. </p>
<p>Climate efforts were also prioritised in relation to regional engagement with South-East Asia and particularly the Pacific Islands. This is a marked elevation from 2021, when climate was mentioned in less stark terms within these contexts. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-and-the-us-are-firm-friends-on-defence-now-lets-turn-that-into-world-beating-climate-action-195905">Australia and the US are firm friends on defence – now let's turn that into world-beating climate action</a>
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<hr>
<p>Finally, the visuals of this year’s AUSMIN were also notable. Watching the first Asian-Australian foreign minister standing alongside the first African-American secretary of defense was a poignant reminder of the power of identity in shaping bilateral narratives. Wong has often said that “<a href="https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/penny-wong/speech/whitlam-oration">foreign policy starts with who we are</a>”, and it was good to see this year’s AUSMIN reflect the diversity of our multicultural societies.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196118/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The USSC Foreign and Defence Policy Program receives funding from the Australian Department of Defence, Northrup Grumman, and Thales. Peter K. Lee also receives funding from the Korea Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>The USSC Foreign and Defence Policy Program receives funding from the Australian Department of Defence, Northrup Grumman, and Thales. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>The Foreign Policy and Defence Program at the United States Studies Centre receives funding from the Department of Defence, Northrop Grumman Australia, and Thales Australia.</span></em></p>This year’s talks had a noticeable shift of tone, reflecting the new Australian government. They include an emphasis on climate action and an invitation to Japan.Peter K. Lee, Research Fellow, Foreign Policy and Defence Program, USSC, University of SydneySophie Mayo, Research Associate, Foreign Policy and Defence, United States Studies Centre, University of SydneyThomas Corben, Research Fellow, Foreign Policy and Defence, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1927722022-10-18T23:50:38Z2022-10-18T23:50:38ZAustralia’s reversal on recognising Jerusalem as Israeli capital is simply a return to status quo<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490489/original/file-20221018-18-w4jk1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lukas Coch/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Albanese Labor government’s <a href="https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/penny-wong/media-release/reversal-recognition-west-jerusalem">decision</a> to reverse its predecessor’s recognition of West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital has elicited a predictable reaction from Israel and its supporters in Australia.</p>
<p>Israel’s Prime Minister Yair Lapid <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/lapid-assails-australia-for-dropping-recognition-of-jerusalem-ambassador-summoned/">condemned</a> what he described as a “hasty response” to indications in the Australian media Canberra was about to shift ground on recognition of West Jerusalem.</p>
<p>Guardian Australia had <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/oct/17/australia-quietly-drops-recognition-of-west-jerusalem-as-capital-of-israel">noted</a> a change on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website.</p>
<p>In Australia, Colin Rubenstein, spokesman for the Australia Israel Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC), <a href="https://www.jwire.com.au/a-pointless-own-goal/">called</a> the reversal a “pointless own goal”.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This decision by the government is not only deeply disappointing, [it] risks denting Australia’s credibility with some of our closest allies.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Is this true?</p>
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<p>The short answer is that it is unlikely Australia’s “credibility” will be harmed by a decision that reinstates what has been, until recently, a status quo policy under successive Labor and Coalition governments.</p>
<p>Rather, the decision announced by Foreign Minister Penny Wong will likely reinforce Canberra’s reputation as a middle power seeking to navigate its way in the shifting sands of Middle East politics.</p>
<p>Importantly, Australia’s neighbours in the region, including principally <a href="https://www.medcom.id/english/world/eN4q4o7b-indonesia-welcomes-australia-s-decision-to-drop-recognition-of-west-jerusalem-as-israel-capital">Indonesia</a>, have welcomed the decision.</p>
<p>The simple fact is Australia has now realigned itself with all its friends and allies, with the exception of the United States, on this issue.</p>
<p>Under US President Donald Trump, Washington had <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/06/world/middleeast/trump-jerusalem-israel-capital.html">diverted</a> from the policy of his predecessors and recognised West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in 2017. The following year, the US embassy was moved there.</p>
<p>The Morrison government then <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/14/australian-government-to-recognise-jerusalem-as-israels-capital">followed the US lead</a>, without moving the Australian embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This was a half, or three-quarter, step towards all-out recognition.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/morrisons-decision-to-recognise-west-jerusalem-the-latest-bad-move-in-a-mess-of-his-own-making-108892">Morrison's decision to recognise West Jerusalem the latest bad move in a mess of his own making</a>
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<p>Circumstances surrounding Canberra’s precipitate decision in 2018 to recognise west Jerusalem as Israel’s capital are relevant.</p>
<p>That decision coincided with the lead-up to a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2018/oct/20/wentworth-by-election-live-results-liberal-dave-sharma-kerryn-phelps-exit-poll-latest-news-updates">knife-edge by-election</a> in the Sydney seat of Wentworth, where there is a significant Jewish population. The byelection was called to fill a casual vacancy caused by the resignation from parliament of former Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull.</p>
<p>As it turned out, the Morrison government’s decision to overturn what had been settled Australian policy did not yield the desired result. The independent Kerryn Phelps won the seat.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490498/original/file-20221018-4769-2bc3lz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490498/original/file-20221018-4769-2bc3lz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490498/original/file-20221018-4769-2bc3lz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490498/original/file-20221018-4769-2bc3lz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490498/original/file-20221018-4769-2bc3lz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490498/original/file-20221018-4769-2bc3lz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490498/original/file-20221018-4769-2bc3lz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The decision to recognise West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital came in the lead-up to the hotly contested 2018 Wentworth byelection.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dean Lewins/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In all of this, history is important.</p>
<p>In the years since the founding of the state of Israel in 1948, successive Australian governments, Coalition and Labor, had adhered to a policy of not recognising West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. This decision was made pending final status negotiations on the future of the city.</p>
<p>Until the 1967 <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Six-Day-War">six-day war</a>, following Israel’s <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/arab-israeli-war">war of independence</a> in 1948, Jerusalem was a divided city between its west, which is the seat of the Israeli government, and east, then under the control of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.</p>
<p>That ended with Israel’s smashing victory over the Arabs in 1967. Israel occupied east Jerusalem, the West Bank, Syria’s Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip until then under Egyptian mandate, and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.</p>
<p>In six days, Israel had turned the map of the Middle East upside down.</p>
<p>This was followed by the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Yom-Kippur-War">1973 Yom Kippur war</a>, in which Egypt sought to wrest back the Sinai from its Israeli occupiers. After making initial inroads along the Suez Canal, Egypt was on the verge of a heavy defeat when America brokered a ceasefire and laid the ground for what became the <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1977-1980/camp-david">Camp David Accords of 1978</a>.</p>
<p>This ushered in a cold peace between Israel and Egypt, with Israel withdrawing from virtually all of the Sinai.</p>
<p>In the years since Camp David, repeated attempted by successive American administrations to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/two-state-solution">broker peace</a> between Israel and the Palestinians under a two-state formula have failed, even as Israel has continued to settle territory seized in 1967.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/moving-the-australian-embassy-to-jerusalem-makes-sense-heres-why-105037">Moving the Australian embassy to Jerusalem makes sense: here's why</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This is the background to Wong’s <a href="https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/penny-wong/media-release/reversal-recognition-west-jerusalem">announcement</a> that Australia had “reaffirmed’’ its </p>
<blockquote>
<p>longstanding position that Jerusalem is a final status issue that should be resolved in any peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian people.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There was a sting in the tail to Wong’s announcement.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I regret that Mr Morrison’s decision to play politics resulted in Australia’s shifting position, and the distress these shifts have caused to many people in the Australian community who care deeply about this issue.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Labor’s own political interests are not absent from this statement. The government holds a swag of seats in western Sydney and north and west of Melbourne where the issue of Palestine is among voter concerns.</p>
<p>Much has been made of the messy way in which the Wong announcement was made. Due to diligent reporting by Guardian Australia, Labor’s pending shift was revealed.</p>
<p>Wong was then put in a position of first denying there had been a change without a cabinet decision, and then making her announcement. This clumsiness should not have happened on such an important policy shift, given the domestic political sensitivities involved.</p>
<p>All of this brings into focus Labor’s <a href="https://www.markdreyfus.com/media/opinion-pieces/labor-s-policy-on-israel-and-the-palestinian-territories-mark-dreyfus-qc-mp/">guiding policy</a> on the Israel-Palestine dispute.</p>
<p>At its 2018 National Conference and reaffirmed at its 2021 conference, its policy states that a Labor government:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>supports the recognition and right of Israel and Palestine to exist as two states within secure and recognised borders</p>
<p>calls on the next Labor government to recognise Palestine as a state</p>
<p>expects that this issue will be an important priority for the next Labor government.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This does not mean Labor will be in any rush to recognise Palestine as a state separate from a full-blown peace process in which a two-state solution becomes a reality. Since there is little chance of that happening in the foreseeable future, Labor’s national conference policy will remain "on the books” as a potential irritant to Israel’s supporters in Australia, but no more than that for the time being.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Correction: this article originally said the government’s decision again recognises Tel Aviv as Israel’s capital. This is incorrect - it simply no longer recognises West Jerusalem as the capital.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192772/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tony Walker is a member of The Conversation's board.</span></em></p>Rather than harming Australia’s credibility, the decision will likely reinforce Canberra’s reputation as a middle power seeking to navigate its way in the shifting sands of Middle East politics.Tony Walker, Vice-chancellor's fellow, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1885362022-08-11T01:08:12Z2022-08-11T01:08:12ZPolitics with Michelle Grattan: How far will China go? La Trobe’s Nick Bisley says its ‘risk appetite’ has gone up<p>The Chinese reaction to United States Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan visit further escalated tensions in our region, as China becomes more bellicose in language and action. </p>
<p>On Wednesday, China’s Ambassador Xiao Qian spoke at the National Press Club. He talked about wanting a positive relationship between Australia and China, while reiterating China’s uncompromising line towards Taiwan, and giving a chilling prediction of what the Taiwanese would be in for post reunification. </p>
<p>“The least thing we are ready to do is use force. That is one of the reasons why China has been so patient for several decades. […] We’re waiting for a peaceful unification. But […] we can never rule out the option to use other means […] when compelled, we are ready to use all necessary means.”</p>
<p>“My personal understanding is that once Taiwan is united, come back to the motherland, there might be process for the people in Taiwan to have a correct understanding of China.”</p>
<p>In this podcast, Michelle Grattan speaks with Nick Bisley, Professor of International Relations at La Trobe University, an expert in Asian foreign relations and Australia’s foreign and defence policy. </p>
<p>Bisley says “what we are probably entering into, at least for the next few months, is a period of much sharply-heightened instability and military kind of friction in and around Taiwan”.</p>
<p>“China has made very clear for decades now that under certain circumstances it would use military force to deal with what it sees as a rogue province. And those circumstances are largely around a unilateral declaration of independence by Taiwan or some other really significant move away from the old status quo.”</p>
<p>“I think what what we see out of this crisis is that China’s risk appetite has gone up and its willingness to put up with what it sees as kind of provocations has gone down.</p>
<p>"So the likelihood of them using military force to coerce Taiwan – it’s not going to happen this year or next year, but its likelihood of occurring in the next four to five years has distinctly increased.”</p>
<p>On whether there is the likelihood of a conflict between China and the US as tensions between the two nations continue to rise, “the constraints that domestic politics puts on each side means that we could end up in a situation where they are backed into a corner and find that there’s few ways out other than some kind of military action, which then escalates.”</p>
<p>But “if there is a proper conflict between the US and China, everyone loses pretty significantly.”</p>
<p>“When we look back in February 2022, thinking about what Putin would do in relation to Ukraine, we all thought he’s not going to do a full-blown invasion. It doesn’t make any sense. It’s not in his interest to do so. I think we’ve always thought that about Taiwan. It’s just not in the US’s interest to do the full-blown military operation. And the lesson has got to be from Ukraine, is that sometimes rationality doesn’t always win.”</p>
<p>On whether the Albanese government is handling the rising tensions with China well, Bisley says: “They’re playing a reasonable hand in what is a pretty difficult set of circumstances.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188536/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Michelle Grattan speaks with Nick Bisley, Professor at La Trobe University about escalating tensions with China over Taiwan, and the Chinese Ambassador's recent address to the National Press Club.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1863872022-07-05T07:16:05Z2022-07-05T07:16:05ZWord from The Hill: People’s pockets hit again, with rate rise and floods set to boost veggie prices<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472441/original/file-20220705-16-55xkmw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C17%2C3988%2C1976&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> </figcaption></figure><p>As well as her interviews with politicians and experts, Politics with Michelle Grattan includes “Word from The Hill”, where she discusses the news with members of The Conversation politics team.</p>
<p>Michelle and Peter Browne from the Politics + Society team discuss Anthony Albanese’s visit to Ukraine, and the desirability of Australia reopening its embassy there as soon as it can. More generally, Australia’s diplomatic presence has slipped and needs to be beefed up. </p>
<p>With the PM now home, he’s off to the flood affected areas of NSW. Labor has learned from the former government’s experience, and has acted quickly to get in resources, seeking to avoid the criticism Scott Morrison faced in the earlier floods. </p>
<p>Meanwhile the Reserve Bank has again increased interest rates, with the cash rate rising by half a percentage point. Also hitting people’s pockets – the latest floods will have some impact on fresh food prices.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186387/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Michelle Grattan discusses politics with Peter Browne from the politics + society teamMichelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1856072022-06-22T10:12:23Z2022-06-22T10:12:23ZHead of Foreign Affairs Kathryn Campbell ousted in public service shake-up<p>The secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Kathryn Campbell, has been replaced in a shake-up of federal departmental heads announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. </p>
<p>The new secretary will be Jan Adams, who is presently ambassador to Japan and has previously served as ambassador to China. She was Australia’s ambassador for climate change when the now foreign minister, Penny Wong, was climate change minister in the Rudd government. </p>
<p>In the changes the government has brought in two people from outside the federal service. Three of the four new secretaries are women. When Scott Morrison sacked five secretaries in 2019, three were women.</p>
<p>The removal of Campbell has been widely anticipated. Before the election Wong questioned her sharply at Senate estimates. Campbell has been DFAT secretary less than a year. Formerly she served as secretary of the departments of social services and human services, and was embroiled in the Robodebt disaster. </p>
<p>Albanese said Campbell would “be taking up a senior appointment in the Defence portfolio in an AUKUS-related role”.</p>
<p>In the changes, Jenny Wilkinson, a deputy secretary at Treasury, will become head of the Finance Department. She is a former head of the Parliamentary Budget Office. Wilkinson replaces Rosemary Huxtable, who had indicated for some time she intended to retire. </p>
<p>The new Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water will be headed by David Fredericks, who shifts from his present position as secretary of the Department of Industry, Science and Resources. </p>
<p>Natalie James, a partner at Deloitte Australia, becomes secretary of the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations. She has had wide experience in public service and workplace relations, including being the Fair Work Ombudsman for the Commonwealth. </p>
<p>Jim Betts, who has worked in the NSW and Victorian public services, becomes secretary of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts. He replaces Simon Atkinson, who was regarded by Labor as too close to the Coalition. Atkinson served as a ministerial adviser from 2013-16 and cabinet secretary from 2017-18.</p>
<p>In a farewell message to staff after the announcement Atkinson said: “It is critical that the secretary is the right fit to lead and provide advice and keep the department well connected to ministers.” </p>
<p>The appointment of Gordon de Brouwer as secretary for public sector reform, in a return to the public service, is further evidence of Albanese’s determination to re-invigorate the bureaucracy. De Brouwer will report to the minister for the public service, Katy Gallagher. </p>
<p>After the election Albanese appointed Glyn Davis as head of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Part of Davis’s brief is to drive change in the service, which has been run down under the Coalition government.</p>
<p>Labor is committed to cutting the use of outside consultants, which reduced the role and capability of the public service. Both Davis and de Brouwer were members of the Thodey review of the service – the former government refused to take up many of its major recommendations that would have made the senior levels of the service more independent.</p>
<p>Albanese said a new secretary of the Industry Department would be announced soon.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470253/original/file-20220622-17-k0402c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470253/original/file-20220622-17-k0402c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470253/original/file-20220622-17-k0402c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470253/original/file-20220622-17-k0402c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470253/original/file-20220622-17-k0402c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=764&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470253/original/file-20220622-17-k0402c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=764&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470253/original/file-20220622-17-k0402c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=764&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Kathryn Campbell, has been replaced in a shake-up of federal departmental heads announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1852042022-06-20T01:35:41Z2022-06-20T01:35:41ZA New Pacific Reset? Why NZ must prioritise climate change and labour mobility<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469398/original/file-20220617-22-txo2j0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C8%2C5955%2C3952&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australia's minister for foreign affairs, Penny Wong, discussed Pacific affairs with her New Zealand counterpart, Nanaia Mahuta, in Wellington, June 16.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The frequent use of the term “shared values” to describe developments in the Pacific tends to obscure a distinct shift in New Zealand and Australian relations with their Pacific partners over the past two decades.</p>
<p>This shift has seen a move away from ready acceptance by Pacific nations of policy prescriptions reflecting “developed country” priorities, towards a greater insistence on New Zealand and Australian support for policies generated by those Pacific partners themselves.</p>
<p>This shift has now been recognised by New Zealand’s foreign minister, Nanaia Mahuta, and more recently by Australia’s new foreign minister, Penny Wong, during her visit to New Zealand last week, giving credibility to a <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/australian-foreign-minister-penny-wong-says-nz-has-unique-and-powerful-voice-in-pacific/5JIY3MCCVYJCGH7NUHBZ4FRKSY/">renewed Australian focus</a> on the “Pacific family”.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most obvious expression of those Pacific priorities and values relates to climate change. This existential challenge to island nations has been given the highest priority by Pacific governments, but has also been by far the most divisive factor in recent Australia and New Zealand relations with the Pacific.</p>
<p>Successive Australian leaders have refused to consider commitments to climate change policies that Pacific countries see as critical to their long-term survival. Australian officials have worked to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-accord-australia-idUSKBN1YH1QC">weaken the outcomes</a> of international climate change conferences.</p>
<p>Frustrated by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/15/australia-waters-down-pacific-islands-plea-on-climate-crisis">Australia’s resistance</a> to using the Pacific Islands Forum to demand more meaningful action on climate change, Pacific countries have felt compelled to seek participation in other international groups and forums where their priorities could be unambiguously advanced. </p>
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<p>Against this background, Wong’s post-election <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-27/new-foreign-minister-penny-wong-makes-pitch-to-pacific/101104730">dash to Fiji</a> was a necessary and timely “save”. Her catch-cry of “we have heard you and we are listening” crucially signalled a coming change in Australia’s climate change stance. </p>
<p>A new regional convergence on climate change policy will remove a major irritant from Pacific relations and create a solid foundation for the partnership’s future. But ongoing commitment by Australia and New Zealand to climate change policies that are fit for purpose will be essential for its durability.</p>
<h2>Fiji’s growing influence</h2>
<p>Fiji’s evolving position has been an important factor in the widening of Pacific states’ international relations.</p>
<p>Following the 2006 coup, Fiji reacted to tensions with Australia and New Zealand by aggressively pursuing a “<a href="https://www.fiji.gov.fj/Media-Centre/News/GOVERNMENT-COMMITTED-TO-LOOK-NORTH-POLICY">Look North</a>” policy. It intensified trade and development partnerships with East Asian and other non-Western states (including China) and pressured other Pacific governments to follow its lead. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pacific-island-nations-will-no-longer-stand-for-australias-inaction-on-climate-change-121976">Pacific Island nations will no longer stand for Australia's inaction on climate change</a>
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<p>While Fiji eventually moved away from its adversarial stance towards Australia and New Zealand, the legacy of that policy remains, in expanded connections with China and other non-Western countries. </p>
<p>In recent years, relations between New Zealand and Fiji have been progressively normalised. This is reflected, for example, in Fiji’s participation along with New Zealand and other partners in the proposed Agreement on Climate Change Trade and Sustainability (<a href="https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/trade/free-trade-agreements/trade-and-climate/agreement-on-climate-change-trade-and-sustainability-accts-negotiations/">ACCTS</a>). It was further cemented by New Zealand’s support for Fiji’s COVID vaccine rollout. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/after-many-false-dawns-australians-finally-voted-for-stronger-climate-action-heres-why-this-election-was-different-183645">After many false dawns, Australians finally voted for stronger climate action. Here's why this election was different</a>
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<p>In the meantime, Fiji has engaged energetically in international climate change diplomacy, positioning itself as a global champion of the Pacific’s priorities. This has enhanced its leadership credentials among Pacific Island Forum members, further amplified this year by its status as forum chair.</p>
<p>The visits to Fiji earlier this year by New Zealand cabinet ministers Peeni Henare and Nanaia Mahuta, and the resulting <a href="https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/media-and-resources/new-zealand-fiji-statement-of-partnership-2022-2025/">Duavata Declaration</a>, reflected both the realities of the renewed partnership and the modern regional role of both countries.</p>
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<h2>Understanding China’s misstep</h2>
<p>China’s <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/468178/china-pacific-islands-unable-to-reach-consensus-on-security-pact">recent failure</a> to secure Pacific nations’ support for its proposed agreement on regional governance and security was greeted with relief by observers in New Zealand. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-meet-the-chinese-challenge-in-the-pacific-nz-needs-to-put-its-money-where-its-mouth-is-184315">To meet the Chinese challenge in the Pacific, NZ needs to put its money where its mouth is</a>
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<p>But it’s important to recognise that failure was also a salutary demonstration of Pacific governments’ insistence that policies affecting the region must be based on decisions by those governments themselves, reflecting their own priorities. </p>
<p>New Zealand has been wise to recognise this and allow space for regional governments to build consensus on relevant issues ahead of the coming meeting of Pacific Island Forum leaders. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/labors-proposed-pacific-labour-scheme-reforms-might-be-good-soft-diplomacy-but-will-it-address-worker-exploitation-183119">Labor's proposed Pacific labour scheme reforms might be good soft diplomacy but will it address worker exploitation?</a>
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<h2>Progress needed on labour mobility</h2>
<p>Looking to the future, the greatest potential contribution New Zealand can make to Pacific development lies in the expansion and broadening of labour mobility arrangements with Pacific partners. This has the added advantage that China will not realistically be able to match such arrangements.</p>
<p>The impact of Pacific seasonal workers’ absence during the pandemic highlighted their importance to the New Zealand economy. </p>
<p>Consultation should now take place both internally and with Pacific partners to design and implement an expanded range of labour mobility arrangements that both support Pacific development aspirations and deliver an economic benefit to New Zealand. </p>
<p>During the recent Australian election campaign, both major parties indicated their <a href="https://devpolicy.org/labour-mobility-campaign-wrap-20220519/">intention to move ahead</a> on this issue. It’s one area – among others – where New Zealand should not be seen to lag behind.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185204/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Scollay does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Pacific nations are increasingly setting their own agendas, meaning Australia and New Zealand are having to learn to listen.Robert Scollay, Honorary Associate Professor of Economics, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata RauLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.