Did Australia rally to its United State ally over Iran? No. And that’s why our global reputation is getting trashed | Alexander Downer

Australia used to be a warrior for freedom. Now it sounds like a first year international relations student, writes Alexander Downer. Have your say.

Australia used to have a reputation as a hugely successful rising power.

We were seen as relevant by the rest of the world not because of our population size but because we were one of a small number of countries which was a warrior for Western civilisation.

We fought at Gallipoli, Pozières, El Alamein, Kokoda, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan. How I loved the Australia which used its good fortune as a free and prosperous society to help its allies protect the freedom of the West.

That was then, not now.

Today, our country has lost global influence and profile. We just want to keep out of trouble. Others can carry the burden for us.

Let’s leave it to the Americans and let’s sneer at them while we’re at it.

TELL US WHY IN THE COMMENTS

The West is under assault. Russia has invaded Ukraine, Iran has been funding and arming proxies to try to destroy democratic Israel and its been building a nuclear weapons capacity to wipe it out.

And China has been stealing maritime territory from the democratic Philippines and threatening to invade Taiwan.

And what do we do?

We mock the American president and sit on the fence. We’ve forgotten that an alliance is two way: we help each other.

Our defence force is now relatively weaker than it was 20 years ago. It’s not so much how much we spend as a proportion of GDP, because after all that depends what the money is spent on.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles delivers his address to Defending Australia 2025 at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: Martin Ollman

But Australia has not invested in drone technology which is demonstrably powerful in Ukraine and the Middle East. Nor has Australia invested in missile defence systems. In fact, it has almost no missile defence at all.

The Australian Government, instead of investing in our security, has been investing in windmills because it thinks by doing so it can change the weather. Seriously?

If there’s a flood in Queensland they say that’s because we don’t have enough windmills. Have they taken leave of their senses?

Let’s look at the positioning on the great issues at the time. The Israel-Iran conflict, Ukraine war, Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea and towards Taiwan.

What does Australia have to say about these things and what has it been doing? We reiterate the tropes of an international relations class at a third rate British University.

We quite rightly support Ukraine and slot neatly in with what is close to the Western consensus. That’s fine. We’ve also given some military support to Ukraine in proportion our size – that is, not a whole lot.

But when it comes to the Middle East, we don’t really have anything to offer at all.

We’ve chastised the Israels for not embracing a two state solution yet the Palestinian resistance including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis – all backed by Iran – don’t believe that Israel has a right to exist.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Senate Leader and Foreign Minister Penny Wong hold a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

When Israel started its military campaign to try to destroy Iran‘s nuclear weapons program and it’s huge build-up of missiles, the Australian Government position was that both sides should de-escalate.

What in God’s name did that mean? That Israel shouldn’t get rid of Ian’s nuclear weapons program and should allow it to build up its missiles so it can destroy Israel – which is its stated intention?

So the Americans destroyed Iran’s nuclear industry. That’s great! Do we rally to our ally? Nope, we repeat the meaningless trope, de-escalate.

So silly was our position but no one took the slightest notice of it. It just triggered a vacuum. Except in Washington.

So here’s a dire warning. If it’s too politically hard for us to support the Americans when they attack Iran’s nuclear program, why would they let us have Virginia class submarines which otherwise they could use. Our weak, gutless position puts the first part of AUKUS at risk.

So it’s not surprising that in the latest index of soft power – that is a combination nation’s reputation and influence – Australia has fallen to 14th place.

That’s only a decline of one place in the last year but it is worth remembering that way back in 2015 Australia was sixth.

We prided ourselves in our reputation as a significant, creative and growing economy, our defence was seen as one of the most potent in the region which was able to provide emergency assistance disaster relief in ways few others could as well as bring peace to trouble spots in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

Above all we were once a warrior for freedom. Now we’ve retreated into cliches which would barely get a pass for a first year undergraduate studying international relations.

I know what you’re thinking. Who cares?

Well, I have to confess that I do and I feel very sad about it.

We need to set the alarm and wake ourselves up from our complacency. If we’re really going to build Australia into the great nation deserves to be.

Originally published as Did Australia rally to its United State ally over Iran? No. And that’s why our global reputation is getting trashed | Alexander Downer