Christopher Pyne: Vital US ambassador must be bold

The US ambassador is one of the most crucial roles Joe Biden will appoint for Australia, Christopher Pyne says – and we need someone to speak their mind.

From Australia’s point of view, one of the most important first acts of the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden will be the early ­appointment of a high-calibre US ambassador to Australia.

The 2½-year wait that Australia endured before the most recent ambassador was appointed was unacceptable. Although I hasten to add, then charge d’affaires James Caruso did an outstanding job, acting in the role and ensuring a seamless transition from previous ambassador John Berry.

Not every US ambassador to Australia has a significant impact on the Australia-US relationship.

After only around two years in the job, the outgoing US ambassador to Australia, Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr, is one who can lay claim to leaving a legacy.

Former US ambassador Jeff Bleich is another.

Even to the extent that Bleich lent his name and financial support to the creation of the Jeff Bleich Centre for the US Alliance in Digital Technology, Security and Governance at Flinders University.

United States Ambassador to Australia Arthur B Culvahouse Jr and Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Picture: AAP / Mick Tsikas

It’s establishment is a real coup for our state and Flinders University vice-chancellor Colin Stirling.

One of the positive acts of President Donald Trump was the appointment of Mr Culvahouse.

Mr Culvahouse is a well-connected Washington DC lawyer with impeccable Republican Party credentials.

He is so well regarded that he has been asked more than once to ­oversee the nomination process for Republican Party presidential candidates’ vice president selection.

Culvahouse quickly identified the number one issue that would dominate his tenure in Canberra and guided US policy in most areas around that – the relationship between ­Australia and the US in an era of great power rivalry between China and the US.

Refreshingly, Mr Culvahouse didn’t seek to gloss over the complications in this thorny issue.

He stated boldly that he would “make an assessment of efforts of third countries, third parties, to undermine (the US-Australia) relationship, and if there are such efforts, including (by) China, I will not refrain from forthrightly … speaking publicly if and as required”.

This he has done. Mr Culvahouse may well have been helped by not being a career diplomat and therefore not ­becoming used to the diplomatic language that often attends those who make a career in the foreign service.

Mr Culvahouse reminded Australians that we have a very good reason to be proud of our history in defending democracy and liberty throughout the world and that, in the continuing contest between totalitarianism and freedom, we have significant assets that we could exploit more. One of these assets is our abundance of critical minerals.

These are minerals that are used in the creation of vital products that are critical to the economic wellbeing of a society, especially in national security, but are in short supply for various political or trade reasons.

They are minerals like tantalum, manganese, tungsten, cobalt, magnesium, platinum and chromium.

You might find them typically used in mobile phones, fighter jets, special kinds of steel used in the military, 3D printing of critical parts of engines and spare parts, satellites and solar power panels. There are a myriad uses for these critical minerals. They are sometimes referred to as rare earths.

Mr Culvahouse has repeatedly pointed out that the two most abundant sources of supply of rare earths are Australia and China.

Yet Australia has exported the mineral product only to have it ­altered and returned to us in the form of finished products.

This is an incredible opportunity for Australia.

The Five Eyes nations – US, Great Britain, New Zealand, Canada and Australia – are desperate to find a source of rare earths and processing of the base minerals that doesn’t ­include China in its supply chain.

So are our like-minded friends like France, Germany, the rest of the ­European Union, Japan, India, ­Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and many others.

Australia could become the sole supplier of such expensive rare earths to the Western world.

It would strengthen the West militarily and economically and remove the West’s reliance on China for what in times of tension, as we are experiencing now, is a product with national security implications.

China has made it clear in the past few months that, when wounded, they will pull the public policy lever of trade to pressure a country like ­Australia.

Mr Culvahouse argues, and he is dead right, that Australia is perfectly placed to be that reliable supplier of critical minerals, making us an even more valuable partner and supporting our economy at the same time.

He argues that we should go a step further and use government policy to ensure that Australia and the US has the processing plants in place to refine such minerals and then use them in our production chain.

While it isn’t the free-market economic policy that the centre right of politics is usually known for, in these almost-post-COVID times, when China is using its economic might to squeeze others, pragmatism should be the order of the day to ­protect our national interests.