AUST: Anti-Australian rehetoric increasing in Pacific
Updated
An Australian foreign policy think tank says the political limits of Australia's role in the South Pacific are being tested. The Lowy Institute for International Policy has looked at South Pacific policy as part of a voters' guide to foreign affairs for Australia's election next month.
Presenter: Graeme Dobell
Speakers: Dr Malcolm Cook of the Lowy Institute for International Policy
COOK: I think they're being tested very seriously at two levels; one at the kind of political reception from the regional political elites, to our much more deeper engagement and the rhetoric that follows that, and second I think we're also facing the limits of what a foreign country can do to help another strengthen its political system, its bureaucracy and at some level its nation too.
DOBELL: How much is Australia bumping up against limits in Solomon Islands or Papua New Guinea or even Fiji?
COOK: Certainly a worrying sign when the Australian foreign policy towards the Solomon Islands is reduced to writing a letter in a local newspaper criticising the government of the day, written by the Australian Foreign Minister. And if you look over the last year at least, but probably even going a bit further back, the prime ministers of Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea and the Commodore in charge in Fiji have repeatedly and publicly criticised Australia's role in the region and in their countries and called for their countries to seek other great and powerful friends beyond Australia.
DOBELL: Your article notes that anti-Australia rhetoric is increasing across the South Pacific. Now Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer tends to dismiss that as just regional elites which don't want to have their powers impeded by Australia. Mr Downer says many people at the grassroots in the region want an Australian involvement. Do you see though any basis amongst political leaders in the Pacific for this anti-Australian rhetoric?
COOK: I think there's probably two, one it's nationalism, especially if you have a large power to target it on is always useful for any political elites, including those in Australia. And without a doubt the Australian aid program in particular and especially in places like Solomons Islands through the RAMSI effort and in Papua New Guinea through the Enhanced Cooperation Program, are getting much more deeply involved in the kind of day-to-day running of the political system. So without a doubt it could be seen as threatening to the political elites. One area though where I think the Foreign Minister probably isn't putting enough attention, even if it's true that the population support Australia's engagement and the regional political elites don't, of course you have to work through the regional political elites to achieve what you want.
DOBELL: Four years on what judgements should Australia be making about the regional intervention in Solomon Islands, RAMSI? Is RAMSI some sort of one-off or does it hold any lessons for future Australian approaches to the islands?
COOK: I think at one level it's certainly a one-off, well I suppose if you look at Nauru we're doing something similar there at a quieter level, and the reason it's a one-off is because it's a hugely expensive per capita intervention. If you look at Solomon Islands, there's about 600-thousand people and RAMSI certainly at its peak was over 300-million dollars a year, which is a significant one. So I think it's very costly to Australia and not applicable to larger populations like Papua New Guinea or Fiji for that matter.
DOBELL: How do those South Pacific issues then play into the Australian election campaign? What is the South Pacific component in any foreign policy debate in Australia?
COOK: I think it's as you would know better than me, I think one of the things is that it's often absent even though that's by far our major source or major destination for our aid money and it's also the area of the world where Australian foreign policy decisions have the most traction. But I think it's changing a little bit. Kevin Rudd chose to use his speech at the Lowy Institute; I think it was in August to focus on a new Labor idea for a deeper engagement in the Pacific. So that would suggest that in the run-up to the election campaign that Pacific issues might play a larger role. There's also a beginnings of a debate within Australia and within the Pacific region as a whole over labour migration or integration into Australia that if it won't come up in the election, will certainly come up for the next government.
DOBELL: Is that issue of Pacific workers really going to be on the agenda for whoever is in government in Canberra?
COOK: I think it probably will be because I think for some political elites in the region they may use this as a litmus test of how engaged and how interested is Australia in the region, and also use it as a counter-balancing point for the Australian engagement, you're willing to give us money and fund consultants but you're not willing to take our workers. And that would be a hard political argument to counteract.
DOBELL: You can conclude that there's a strong bipartisan support in Australia for Australia's role as the provider of regional stability and stability which is costing Australia billions of dollars. Is that bipartisan consensus going to hold?
COOK: It's certainly if you look at the pronouncements both of the government to continue to support their own actions, which isn't a surprise with the proviso that if the regional political elites don't follow along then the support may be withdrawn. The surprising thing is as I said that Kevin Rudd chose to have a speech on it where he didn't only support the existing level, but called for a much deeper engagement, both in terms of time periods but also in terms of the kind of depth of what they want the Australian aid program to do. And it's noticeable that what would seem to be an aid weary government, the Howard government promised to double in nominal terms the Australian aid budget by 2010. So that would show there's strong support both within the conservative and more progressive parts of Australia.
