Anthony Albanese’s trip to China echoed visits by previous prime ministers Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser.
It helped the healing process needed to repair the damage caused to the relationship with our number one trading partner by the bumbling Scott Morrison.
No doubt the extended friendly visit would have caused ripples in Washington. They are keen to paint China as ‘the enemy’. The military/industrial complex always needs enemies, otherwise there’s no excuse for spending billions on armaments.
It was noteworthy the prime minister was asked by the media whether Australia would commit to joining America in any conflict over Taiwan. Albanese parried the question but made it clear Australia would not automatically join in.
He reiterated Australia’s support for the One China policy, an ambiguity that has been around for a very long time. It says essentially that China does have a legitimate claim on Taiwan, and yet does not support a Chinese invasion of the island.
Albanese’s lack of automatic support for an American military involvement would have been noted by Elbridge Colby, the US Under Secretary of Defence for Policy, who is undertaking a review of the controversial AUKUS treaty.
The PM’s response sends the signal that Australia’s nuclear submarines would not be automatically available when needed by America to attack China. In their eyes it must make us seem like an ‘unreliable ally’.
Angus Taylor, Shadow Minister for Defence, decided to change Coalition policy on the run on the ABC TV’s 7.30, evidently without consulting his colleagues. He supported such a commitment.
Anyway, the Coalition’s position is irrelevant, as they are unlikely to regain government until the mid 2030s, or even longer if the Albanese government follows the UK lead in reducing the voting age to 16.
Hopefully the Colby enquiry will find that America needs to keep all the submarines for their own use, as there is doubt as to whether they can make enough submarines to meet the deadline anyway. One suggestion has been floated that Australia will need to cough up billions more to speed production. I can’t see the Albanese government agreeing to that.
Hopefully, the government will be given a good reason to walk away from this outrageous waste of our money and rethink its entire defence strategy.
If the Trump administration regards Australia as an ‘unreliable ally’, we have every reason to view them in a similar light.
Trump is waging a world trade war, and treating us as just another trade enemy, despite our free trade agreement.
Unjustified tariffs
He’s whacked entirely unjustified tariffs on a range of our exports, despite the fact they have a trade surplus with us. That’s hardly the action of a friend.
The submarines don’t fit our defence needs anyway. They’re attack submarines. Australia doesn’t need an attack capability. We need to be able to defend ourselves against any would-be invader.
We need to be like an echidna.
With our small population, limited financial resources and advantage of being an island, we need to be able to roll up into a proverbial ball and make it impossible for any aggressor to successfully invade this continent. Ukrainians have shown the way with their highly effective use of drones, both on land and water.
We could spend a fraction of the nearly four hundred billion dollars earmarked for the submarines on domestic defence and end our ridiculous role as deputy sheriff of the USA in the Pacific.
We need to develop a new global alliance – Partners for Peace – and invite countries such as Japan, China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico and others to join. Such an alliance would need to commit unequivocally to peaceful solutions to resolve conflicts and eschew the use of arms to deal with them.
It sounds like a pipe dream but it’s possible and necessary.
By far the biggest threat to the world is the ever-worsening climate crisis. This is where we should be putting resources, not into weapons of war and standing armies.
Partners for Peace would be able to convert standing armies and use wasted military expenditure to protect civilian populations by building defensive infrastructure, undertaking rescue operations and helping to rebuild after disasters.
Australia could lead the way by converting our nearly 90,000-strong Australian Defence Force into a properly trained civilian defence force. Like the SES, they could spring into action immediately rather than wait for a command. It’s absurd to depend on a few thousand exhausted volunteers every time there is a disaster, which are becoming ever more frequent.
Australia can lead the way and seize the initiative. Out of the disaster of the crazed Trump administration can come some good after all. The world can change for the better. War-based economies can be converted to work for the good of all people and nature.
Give peace a chance.
Richard Jones is a former NSW MLC and is now a ceramicist.
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