Any self-respecting Australian leader would be running for the hills rather than be seen with the leader of the United States after that unhinged speech to the UN last week, but Anthony Albanese sought out not one but two photo opportunities with President Trump while he was in New York, along with an assurance of a face to face meeting in Goldfinger’s oval-shaped lair next month.
What do you give the mob boss who has everything? Free minerals? More billions for non-existent submarines? Perhaps a gold leaf encrusted kangaroo? No doubt Albo will do almost anything to avoid being put in the naughty corner, like Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, or Columbia’s President Gustav Petro, but you can be sure whatever it is won’t be enough to satisfy the ranting ratbags of the right.
The problem is that by the time the promised meeting date of 20 October rolls around, the USA might be at war with Venezuela, along with any of their own states that had the temerity to vote blue.
There’s also the exciting prospect of a complete government shutdown, either brought on by the Democrats to avoid funding further criminal behaviour at every level of the Trump regime, or by the Republicans themselves to stop the newly elected Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva taking her seat in the House and providing enough votes for the release of the Epstein Files, which apparently have the potential to singlehandledly bring down Dear Leader.
Perhaps Anthony Albanese will wind up meeting J.D. Vance instead?
It’s becoming increasingly obvious that the attitudes of ‘allies’ like Australia to the American situation is irrelevant – the USA is retreating from the global community, along with science and reality in general. How far can the relationship be stretched before it snaps?
For all his outward show of bravado and steady as she goes, Anthony Albanese might find himself having a John Curtin moment sooner rather than later, if the baseball cap-wearing neighbourhood bully falters and Australia suddenly needs to find new friends in the world.
All the right words, but something was missing…
Amidst the drama of the United Nations gathering, Albo’s own speech to the General Assembly was a typically lacklustre affair, a kind of verbal blancmange, sweet but ultimately unsatisfying. He spoke about the importance of the UN and the international rules based order, ‘which owes much to the post-war leadership of the United States of America’, while not acknowledging that leadership was collapsing in real time.
He spoke about Australia’s ambition to host COP31, and the existential threat’ of climate change, having superintended as prime minister the export of ever-greater amounts of climate-damaging coal and gas. He spoke about ‘regimes willing to crush their own people beneath the weight of oppression’ with no apparent awareness that he was standing on the territory of such a regime.
He spoke about expelling the Iranian ambassador, and the ‘terrorists of Hamas’, but had no criticism of Israel, which is now officially committing genocide.
Apparently hoping Trump had fallen asleep by this point, he quickly mentioned Australia’s decision to take the symbolic step of recognising Palestine, before moving on to the idealism of the Charter which formed the UN, Australia’s historic role in that, and his hope that the UN Security Council might include Australia by 2029.
If things continue, will the UN’s headquarters even remain in the USA by 2029? Perhaps it will have migrated to a country ruled by international law, where a war criminal like Benjamin Netanyahu can be arrested, instead of given a stage and a police escort?
Meanwhile in Australia
Not one, but two Labor state premiers came out last week in support of Santos’ indefensible unconventional gas project at Narrabri, in the wake of the US$16 billion takeover offer from Abu Dhabi’s XRG Consortium for the parent company being withdrawn, following revelations that the Santos gas facility in Darwin has been leaking enormous quantities of methane since it was built in 2006.
In NSW, Premier Chris Minns described the company’s stalled Narrabri project, which threatens the Pilliga forest and surrounding farmland, as ‘incredibly important for our state’, regurgitating the fantasy that any gas produced at Narrabri would be for domestic use.
In fact, Santos is one of the architects of the east coast gas supply shortage, having raided the domestic supply to fill lucrative export contacts.
Not to be outdone in this stupidity, South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas attacked what he described as ‘Lock the Gate NIMBYs and the Greens’ for opposing Santos at Narrabri, although this is a project which risks the recharge zone of the Great Artesian Basin and the global climate, affecting people well beyond NSW.
Malinauskus dismissed decades of widespread community opposition across North West NSW, along with a growing body of expert and highly critical scientific evidence, and ongoing legal cases brought by First Nations people, by saying, ‘The eco-purists that fill screeds demanding an end to gas production should be careful what they wish for. If there’s gas, this is the time to get it out of the ground.’
Santos is a powerful force in Adelaide, and the premier’s brother Robert works in a senior government relations position at the company, but of course all that is just an amazing coincidence, just like the toxic algal bloom which is ravaging marine species off the coast of the state, fuelled by global heating accelerated by the likes of Santos.
When will Labor politicians start defending the interests of the people who actually elected them?
Originally from Canberra, David Lowe is an award-winning filmmaker, writer and photographer with particular interests in the environment and politics. He’s known for his campaigning work with Cloudcatcher Media.
You can find more of his writing at Patreon and Gumroad.
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