Page 18 - IB JAN 2019

Politics

Canberra ramps up Pacific policy as election looms

By Nic Maclellan

BOTH government and opposition parties in Australia have
outlined a renewed commitment to the Pacific, as voters prepare
to go to the polls.
In recent months, the Coalition government led by Prime Min-
ister Scott Morrison has announced more than $3 billion worth
of infrastructure and security initiatives in the Pacific. However
it’s unlikely that Morrison will get to spend this money. National Working together: Australia looks to Japan and US as Pacific partners
elections must be held by May, and opinion polls suggest that
the opposition Australian Labour Party (ALP) led by Bill Shorten
will win a crushing victory. cap of 2,000 places will be lifted, providing more opportunities
Despite positive economic data, many workers have seen little for Pacific workers to undertake non-seasonal work for up to
wage growth during the period of Coalition government between three years.”
2013 and 2018. Relations between the governing Liberal and Na- At the same time, to appease the National Party and rural vot-
tional parties are tense, as the government stumbles from scandal ers, the Liberal Party began discussing an agricultural worker visa
to scandal. Above all, there are unresolved tensions within the open to Asian workers. This initiative would undercut access from
Liberal Party after the dumping of three prime ministers since the islands, even though the Seasonal Worker Programme and
2013. Internal faction fighting saw Prime Minister Tony Abbott Pacific Labour Scheme are a central pillar of regional relations.
replaced by Malcolm Turnbull in 2015, who was then replaced As part of its renewed regional push, Australia will establish
in August 2018 by Scott Morrison, after a failed putsch by Home embassies in all countries and territories that currently lack a
Affairs Minister Peter Dutton (with six changes of Prime Minister diplomatic mission: Palau, Marshall Islands, French Polynesia,
since 2007, Voreqe Bainimarama is pleased that Canberra has Niue and Cook Islands. In his November speech, Morrison also
replaced Suva as the coup capital of Oceania). announced that “the government will establish a new Office of the
In states like Queensland, small but significant numbers of Pacific in DFAT to enhance whole-of-government coordination.”
voters have turned away from the major parties towards Pauline Agencies such as the Australian Federal Police (AFP), Department
Hanson’s One Nation or other Right-wing forces. These groups of Defence, Department of Home Affairs and Attorney-General’s
call for cuts to overseas aid and restrictions on foreign workers Department will contribute staff to the new office.
coming to Australia, which sits uneasily with Canberra’s pledge Any commitment to “whole-of-government coordination”
of “stepping up” in the Pacific. would be welcome given the current policy shambles in Canberra.
However by their very mandate and culture, agencies like AFP,
Policy formulation Defence and Home Affairs are focused on national state security.
At the 2016 Forum leaders meeting, then Prime Minister Turn- The period of Coalition government since 2013 has seen a
bull announced that Australia would “step up” in the region. His growing focus on national security rather than broader devel-
successor Scott Morrison has now announced a series of measures opment objectives. Even though Australia remains the largest
to implement this. These initiatives are tied to Western allies donor of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to the islands’
like Japan and the United States, at a time that national security region, the Coalition’s abolition of the Australian Agency for
institutions are increasingly paranoid about growing Chinese International Development (AusAid) has weakened the govern-
influence in the region. ment’s development focus. There is a significant danger that the
Speaking at Lavarack army base in Townsville last November, new Office of the Pacific, staffed with extra spooks and soldiers,
Morrison announced a series of institutional, economic and will be more focused on Australia’s national security rather than
financial measures targeted at the islands. He noted: “This is human security, climate change and development in neighbour-
our patch. This is our part of the world. This is where we have ing countries – a key priority expressed by Forum leaders in the
special responsibilities.” 2018 Boe Declaration.
However welcome this renewed attention may be, each of The Morrison Government’s new step up plan is absolutely
these measures brings new contradictions that will complicate silent on climate policy, except for the announcement that Aus-
policy-making for an incoming ALP Government. tralia would not make an extra contribution to the Green Climate
Recent governments have lacked policy coherence towards the Fund (GCF)! This is in direct contradiction to pledges made at the
region, often allowing domestic political imperatives to override 2018 Forum in Nauru (which Morrison did not attend), when
good policy. Last November, for example, Morrison announced Forum leaders reaffirmed that “climate change remains the single
that his government would “progressively roll out the Pacific greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and wellbeing of the
Labour Scheme across all Pacific island countries….We will also peoples of the Pacific.”
discuss with our Papua New Guinean counterparts a pathway for A key Australian security proposal is to expand the small naval
Papua New Guinea to join the scheme. In addition, the current base at Lombrum on PNG’s Manus Island, with support from the

18 Islands Business, January 2019