‘Not pulling our weight’: Bipartisanship collapses over Ukraine support

A fight has erupted between the major parties over Australian support for Ukraine’s war against Russia, with the federal opposition declaring it embarrassing that Ukrainian officials have been forced to resort to social media posts to plead for more military assistance from the Albanese government.

In the Coalition’s strongest criticism yet of the government’s Ukraine policy, opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham and defence spokesman Andrew Hastie said they were concerned that Australia was no longer pulling its weight when it came to supporting Ukraine’s military efforts.

Shadow ministers Simon Birmingham and Andrew Hastie have written to their government counterparts, Richard Marles and Penny Wong.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

With Ukraine’s crucial spring counter-offensive already under way, the shadow ministers called for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to announce a new package of assistance urgently rather than hold it to “ransom until he has a media opportunity at the upcoming NATO summit” in Lithuania next month.

“Despite the early action of the former Coalition government, and our continued bipartisan support for actions of this government, Australia’s commitments have failed to keep pace with our partners,” Birmingham and Hastie wrote in a letter to Defence Minister Richard Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Wednesday.

“Other non-NATO contributors now increasingly overshadow Australia’s support.”

The comments mark a breakdown in the bipartisan approach to Ukraine that typified the first year of the conflict – a period during which Labor and the Coalition worked together to present a united front against Vladimir Putin’s invasion and declined to criticise each other.

Birmingham and Hastie said they “share the growing concerns of many in the Australian-Ukrainian community and, it would seem, the government of Ukraine that Australia is no longer pulling our weight commensurate with the efforts of our partners”.

“The dwindling and ad-hoc nature of Australian military support announced by the Albanese government has seen an embarrassing situation emerge where the Ukrainian government has resorted to launching public campaigns for more Australian military equipment,” the shadow ministers wrote in the letter.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence posted videos to Twitter in April and May pleading for Australia to provide a supply of Hawkei protected mobility vehicles, while Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov posted a video last week urging Australia to donate tanks to Ukraine.

Australia has provided $510 million in military assistance to Ukraine, but the only aid announced this year was a $33 million donation of unarmed drones in February.

This masthead reported on Tuesday that Australia is set to supply a batch of Hawkeis as part of a forthcoming support package, despite concerns from within the Australian Defence Force that the new vehicles are not ready for operations because of problems with their braking system.

Army Major General Andrew Bottrell told Senate estimates last week that “it’s been my advice to Defence that we could not sustain this vehicle overseas, and we certainly could not sustain it if we were also trying to roll it out to the Australian Defence Force”.

Still, Hastie and Birmingham said: “We urge the swift announcement of a new and comprehensive package of Australian military, humanitarian and energy assistance to Ukraine, underpinned by thorough consideration of each of the Ukrainian government’s specific requests, including for Hawkeis, M1 Abrams tanks, F/A-18 Hornets and de-mining equipment/detectors.

“If these capabilities cannot be made available to the Ukrainian government, then we urge this
government to explain why and provide alternate support.”

A Ukrainian soldier fires a mortar at Russian positions on the frontline near Bakhmut.Credit: AP

They said the timing of announcements “should not be beholden to media schedules or ministerial visits, such as prime minister’s planned visit to the NATO leaders’ summit”.

A spokeswoman for Marles said: “It is disappointing the Coalition are seeking to play politics with such an important matter.

“The government has engaged the Coalition in briefings and the like, to ensure there is bipartisan support on this issue.”

Birmingham and Hastie also questioned why Australia had not re-opened its embassy in Kyiv despite the fact more than 60 other nations, including the United Kingdom and United States, had already done so.

Former Victorian state MP Tim Smith, who travelled to Ukraine this week, said it was a “disgrace” that Australia has not re-opened the embassy.

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