“They’re just having a sook.”
It’s a sentence that has been heard a few times over the past 48 hours, as Coalition MPs rubbish any suggestion that Australia has seriously harmed itself in infuriating France over dumping the $90 billion submarine deal.
It’s a thuggish mentality, devoid of humility, that encapsulates everything that is wrong about Australian foreign policy at the moment. The idea that we couldn’t have done this any other way is laughable for a number of reasons.
First, the Morrison government should not have given France the impression that the submarine deal was back on track over the past six months.
Au revoir to the new special relationship? Scott Morrison with French President Emmanuel Macron in June.Credit: AP
As recently as June this year, French President Emmanuel Macron backed Australia in its worsening tussle with China, standing alongside Prime Minister Scott Morrison in the Elysee Palace courtyard in Paris. What Macron didn’t know was that four days earlier, Morrison had used a meeting with US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to discuss the secret plan to ditch the French submarines and build a nuclear-powered fleet with the United States and Britain.
Second, Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Defence Minister Peter Dutton should not have agreed to significantly enhance defence cooperation with their French counterparts less than a month ago when they were about to announce the submarine deal was dead.
To be fair, some of France’s reaction can be explained by the fact that Macron has an election coming up and a French President standing up to the US always plays well domestically.
But the facts remain: France has recalled its ambassadors from Australia and the US and there is more to come.
Australia hasn’t just angered the most important European power in the Indo-Pacific. It has dragged its greatest ally, the US, into a diplomatic row with Europe at a time when Biden is trying to mend relations in the continent after years of Donald Trump publicly snubbing European allies.
Australia’s actions right now have serious implications on the world stage and there are questions about whether our diplomacy has been strong enough to support our strategic intentions.
On April 19, 2020, Payne announced on the ABC’s Insiders program that Australia would push for an international inquiry into China’s handling of the COVID-19 outbreak. For more than a year, the government has refused to accept it erred by announcing the global review on live television instead of consulting other countries first and perhaps making a joint statement.
From pushing for international inquiries into the actions of China to building a nuclear-propelled fleet of submarines, Australia is making some huge decisions. They may very well turn out to be the right calls.
But we are now playing on the big stage, and the question must be asked: does the government have the right personnel and diplomatic skills to pull it off?
The obvious follow-up question, which comes up time and again, is: where is Marise Payne?
Australia’s Foreign Minister too often fails to get ahead of issues on the horizon and deftly prosecute the government’s case.
Any criticism of the government’s handling of these announcements is always met with astonishment. It’s like the government is playing chess and the rest of us are playing checkers; we shouldn’t have the temerity to question their brilliance.
Increasingly, other countries are questioning it.