Albanese yet to prove he’s a safe pair of hands on China

The ringing endorsement of Anthony Albanese by the Chinese Communist Party propaganda sheet Global Times suggests that with friends like the CCP, the Opposition Leader does not need enemies. Labor’s deputy leader Richard Marles was busy on Wednesday claiming Labor and the Morrison government shared the same, bipartisan position on national security. That may appear to be the case in terms of Labor’s rhetoric, but not always in substance. Mr Marles and opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong are squealing that Scott Morrison and Defence Minister Peter Dutton are politicising national security in the context of the coming election. But during 3½ years of facing geo-strategic challenges unprecedented since World War II, the issue has emerged as one of the Morrison government’s strengths, alongside the economy. It is understandable that China wants the Prime Minister to lose. He has been effective and determined in resisting Beijing’s coercion. He also has been a key player in groupings that Beijing profoundly dislikes, such as AUKUS and the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue. In the national interest, Mr Morrison is right to dig down into his opponents’ positions on such profoundly important issues.

Serious differences between the Coalition and Labor were highlighted recently by Mr Albanese himself. When newly arrived Chinese ambassador Xiao Qian put out an olive branch to Australia, Mr Albanese said Australia should change its posture and urged Beijing to withdraw “some of the actions that have been taken to stop Australian products going to China”. Some? Mr Albanese’s comment raised the questions – how many and which ones? It paled alongside Josh Frydenberg’s response. “We will not put our economic interest ahead of our national interest,” the Treasurer said. “All economic sanctions by China on Australia should be dropped immediately and unconditionally. No ifs, no buts.” China banned or heavily restricted coal, barley, seafood, wine, beef and timber exports in protest against Australia pushing back on foreign interference, national security threats and Mr Morrison asking questions about the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has killed almost six million people, infected more than 400 million and devastated economies. Despite Australia’s best efforts to open communication, China froze its dealings with Australian government ministers.

Mr Albanese has a major task to convince the electorate that the opposition would be a “safe pair of hands” managing Australia’s dealings with China, defence and national security. His efforts will be impeded by several factors. First, others in his party such as Paul Keating and former foreign minister Bob Carr are intent on Australia cultivating closer ties with China. Victoria’s Andrews government signed on to the dubious Belt and Road Initiative, which Canberra tore up under its Foreign Arrangements Scheme. Second, when Labor was in office from 2007 to 2013, it cut the defence budget to 1.56 per cent of gross domestic product. In last year’s budget, defence spending reached 2.1 per cent. Mr Dutton says the AUKUS agreement to acquire nuclear-powered submarines will push it to 2.5 per cent of GDP. Third, Mr Albanese’s statements suggest he would have a different, slightly contradictory approach to China from that of the government.

Last month, Mr Albanese told the National Press Club he hoped to see a return to a golden age of business with the superpower. Increased competition in the region did not automatically equal catastrophe, he said. While acknowledging that it was China, not Australia, that had changed, “we need to adjust accordingly”, Mr Albanese said. He hoped to combine current policies on the Uighurs, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the South China Sea and human rights with replicating the economic relationship the Howard government enjoyed with China. Judging by China’s list of 14 ridiculous grievances with Australia, that outcome is highly unlikely – unless a Labor government was prepared to make major concessions. While voicing support for the government, in the main, over China, Mr Albanese had an each-way bet, insisting Australia had to deal with China “in a mature way, not by being provocative for the sake of it to make a domestic political point”.

Labor’s doublespeak in relation to Israel, the Middle East’s only real democracy, which Mr Albanese says he supports, is also problematic. His silence about the anti-Israel boycott that disrupted the Sydney Festival – after organisers approached the Israeli embassy and accepted a $20,000 grant – was a bad sign that in government, the party’s rabid pro-Palestinian wing would hold sway. Former federal Labor MP Michael Danby slammed his party last year for changing its platform to recognise a Palestinian state. The move was absurd. No such state exists, so it cannot be recognised. And Mr Danby was denied the chance to speak on the matter at the party conference. For the sake of the nation, the government must apply the blowtorch to Labor’s foreign, defence and national security policies.