Twenty years on from 9/11, Australia must strengthen ANZUS Treaty

It is more important than ever that Australia sustains and builds its treaty with the United States and New Zealand, writes Piers Akerman.

On Friday, the Western world will remember the 2001 terrorist attacks on the US when al-Qaeda turned commercial aircraft into missiles and targeted the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon and the US Capitol buildings.

Nearly 3000 people were killed, including 344 New York firefighters and 71 police officers.

The dead civilians were from more than 90 nations, and included 11 Australians.

Then-prime minister John Howard was in Washington at the time. Two days later, he was back in Canberra having flown to Hawaii aboard US Air Force 2 (the first aircraft to leave US air space after the attacks) and then Qantas to Australia where, with the unanimous support of the federal cabinet, the ANZUS Treaty was invoked for the first time in history.

Last Wednesday was the 70th anniversary of the treaty.

The smoulder rubble of the World Trade Centre in New York.

The abrupt collapse of Afghanistan following the shock withdrawal of US military forces last weekend has shaken faith in the reliability of the US as our defence shield but there were no such doubts about our support for the US when it was under attack on 9/11.

At his first press conference in Canberra, Mr Howard, who had spent two hours with US President George W. Bush the day before the attacks, spoke of his initial reactions and the decision (taken in consultation with then-foreign minister Alexander Downer) to invoke the treaty.

US President George W Bush and Australian Prime Minister John Howard at the White House on September 10, 2001.

Immediately after the attacks he had a number of talks with then-Australian ambassador to the US, Michael Thawley, our Consul General in New York Ken Allen, and Frank Lowy, whose company was then part-owner of the World Trade Centre about missing Australians and the wider ramifications of the surprise terrorist assaults.

“We came very quickly to the view that the provisions of the ANZUS Treaty should be invoked in relation to the attack upon the United States,” Mr Howard said of his talks with Mr Downer. “Quite clearly these are circumstances to which Article IV of the ANZUS Treaty applies.”

Article IV of the treaty applies when there is an armed attack on any of the signatories and is deemed to include an armed attack on the metropolitan territory of any of the parties, or on the island territories under its jurisdiction in the Pacific or on its armed forces, public vessels or aircraft in the Pacific.

Then-opposition leader Kim Beazley was unable to be contacted by the Prime Minister’s office when the treaty was invoked as he was travelling but his office indicated support for the decision.

Howard repeated what he had already said in Washington, that it was the unanimous view of the cabinet that “Australia stands ready to co-operate within the limits of its capability concerning any response that the United States may regard as necessary in consultation with her allies”.

He presciently noted “at no stage should any Australian regard this as something that is just confined to the United States. It is an attack upon the way of life we hold dear in common with the Americans. It does require the invocation of ANZUS”.

The ISIS-inspired attack in a New Zealand shopping centre on Friday, let alone the Sydney Lindt Cafe siege and the numerous thwarted attacks within Australia, should be a reminder that terrorism remains a constant threat.

The current Australian ambassador to the US, Arthur Sinodinos, has repeatedly warned that China’s belligerent coercion in the Indo-Pacific region poses a greater threat than Islamist 9/11-style terrorism but says moves to strengthen our military and economic ties will reinforce the ANZUS alliance.

It is more important than ever that Australia helps strengthen the Quad alliance with regional allies, Japan, India and the US.

The Five Eyes (US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) intelligence-sharing arrangement would also benefit from the addition of Israel.

New Zealand, under socialist Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, is more a liability than reliable ally.

During last week’s talks between US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Scott Morrison emphasis was placed on greater US engagement with the Indo-Pacific region post-Afghanistan.

With Mr Biden in the White House and Ms Ardern the Queen bee in the Kiwi beehive, it is more important than ever that Australia sustains and builds this important treaty into the future.

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