AUSTRALIA: Parties forsee trouble in Pacific
Updated
Australia's election campaign has been notable for the dark consensus on one area of foreign policy, the future of the South Pacific. The Coalition and Labor have been in agreement about the crisis looming in Pacific Islands. The Howard Government says Australia has to act tough in the Pacific to confront poor governance and declining law and order. The Labor Party has been even more dramatic, warning that refugees could start fleeing from Melanesia because of rising poverty.
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DOBELL:The Coalition and Labor agree on the crisis in the South Pacific. The only difference seems to be in the tone of their response.
DOWNER: Dealing with the Pacific you don't want to do so from a position of weakness, you don't want to look weak
DOBELL: For the Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, Australia has to be tough in confronting corruption and political breakdown in the Pacific Islands.
DOWNER: It's tough work, you must be strong, not weak and you must be determined and have clear objectives and every time you have an argument with a foreign leader, Labor says it's Australia's fault. Actually Australia is a good, decent and strong country. Sometimes these people are at fault, not us.
DOBELL:
The Labor spokesman on Foreign Affairs, Robert McClelland, agrees about the problem and the need for an Australian response.
McCLELLAND: The rim around Australia as you described has often been described by commentators as an arc of instability. It's our arc of responsibility.
DOBELL:
The McLelland language, though, is of partnership, not toughness, in the Pacific.
McCLELLAND:
And I think the answer is to not focus on a reactive approach where we've seen a revolving door in some instances of military deployments, but to genuinely sit down in partnership with them and to develop programs in partnership
DOBELL:
The Coalition's foreign policy statement says Australia's more interventionist policy in the South Pacific reduces the dangers of political and social instability in a region threatened by poor governance and declining law and order.
The Coalition says the costs and potential threats to Australia of ignoring problems in the Pacific are quote "immense". A promised redoubling of efforts in the Islands will partly involve greater economic integration of the South Pacific with Australia. The Prime Minister, John Howard, says that Australia's role in the Islands has changed.
HOWARD
I think of the new approach we have adopted to the Pacific, of saying to the nations of the Pacific we want to help you, but you have to lift your economic game and you have to improve your standards of governance.
DOBELL:
The Labor Leader, Kevin Rudd, has raised the prospect of refugees being forced to flee failed states in Melanesia - that is, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.
Mr Rudd says Melanesia is one of the few places in the developing world where economic and social indicators are getting worse, and he says Australia has both moral and practical reasons to give more help.
RUDD:
Because if we fail to act in terms of under-development across Melanesia, two consequences ensue if you are looking at it from the self-interest point of view. You're going to be looking at the need for rolling military interventions which are massively expensive to the Australian taxpayer. Already seen a number of them. And secondly, if you don't act, you will see over time, an outflow of refugees from the region.
Presenter: Graeme Dobell
Speakers: Alexander Downer, Australian Foreign Minister; Kevin Rudd, Labor leader.
