A new step for our US alliance

In a farewell call ahead of the Thursday (Australian time) transfer of power in Washington, Scott Morrison and outgoing US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo fittingly “affirmed the unbreakable bond that exists between the US and Australia”. Their joint commitment that both nations will “continue working together to deepen and broaden the US-Australia alliance” reflects the great success of the relationship under the Trump administration and the Coalition in Australia. Given China’s growing belligerence, Mr Pompeo had good reason to thank the Prime Minister for “his steadfast support in promoting our shared values of democracy, human rights, the rule of law, and our common strategic interests, even in the face of threats from China”. Mr Pompeo and Mr Morrison also noted the increasing importance of the Quad Security Dialogue and the determination of the US, India, Australia and Japan to advance “a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region”. Mr Morrison also had a farewell call with outgoing Vice-President Mike Pence, who has played a gracious and proper role in the transition to the new administration.

Less timely on Wednesday is Anthony Albanese’s Zoom speech to the University of WA on US-Australia relations under a Biden administration. Even before Joe Biden takes office, Mr Albanese is suggesting the Morrison government was behind the eight ball in dealing with the new administration: “Scott Morrison will have his work cut out given his attendance at partisan events with Donald Trump and his failure to build any connections with the Democrats.’’ That dubious proposition is about to be tested and is likely to prove unfounded.

Mr Albanese, incredibly, is more critical of what he terms Mr Morrison’s “poorly managed call for an inquiry, which was always going to take place’’ into the origins of COVID-19 in Wuhan than he was of China’s subsequent trade retaliation against Australia. Far from being inevitable, the World Health Organisation probe was slow to eventuate. Australia, as a credible middle-ranking power, pushed the process forward. Mr Morrison was right to speak up.

Mr Albanese’s efforts to tar Mr Morrison with the same brush as Mr Trump’s extremist supporters went too far. Given recent polling commissioned by building unions showing that Labor is on track to lose its heartland seats of Shortland and Paterson in the Hunter Valley, it is worth questioning whether it reflects Labor’s struggles to retain its traditional blue-collar base. Mr Albanese indulges in sweeping hyperbole, claiming Mr Morrison “remains afraid of the far-right extremist fringe dwellers who make up the bedrock of his personal support — and who he cultivates through the avatars of Trumpists and conspiracy theorists such as Craig Kelly and George Christensen.” Really?

From Australia’s perspective, it is reassuring that Mr Pompeo’s assessment of the importance of the US-Australia alliance is shared by incoming secretary of state Antony Blinken and Mr Biden’s new “Asia tsar”, Kurt Campbell. Despite the chaos of Mr Trump’s ill-tempered departure, there is at least one part of the world about which Democrats and Republicans largely see eye to eye. Mr Biden arrives in the White House with a wealth of foreign policy experience. As vice-president, he was closely involved in Barack Obama’s pivot to Asia. He now has an opportunity to build on it. And, in doing so, the US-Australia alliance will be central.

As Mr Morrison says, he and Mr Biden will continue the stewardship of the alliance that is “incredibly important’’ for our region, for Australia’s interests, and for the US.