Refusal to join Suez force is a major embarrassment

Missile strikes by Iran-backed Houthi terrorists on commercial vessels, including oil carriers, in the Red Sea have created a new dangerous frontier in the Israel-Gaza war. The attacks are making some of the world’s most important shipping lanes non-navigable. Several major lines have stopped sending their vessels into the terrorists’ line of fire. Serious consequences for the global economy potentially could follow as the Houthis – Iran’s strongest proxy force, stronger than even Hezbollah and Hamas – escalate the offensive.

The Houthis are the only Iranian proxies armed by Tehran with medium-range ballistic missiles, including specific anti-ship ballistic missiles. The terrorists have been activated by Iran, which aims, as The Wall Street Journal notes, to complicate US support for Israel and get the West to pressure Israel to stop its campaign to destroy Hamas. Iran must be prevented from achieving its goal. It must not be allowed to interfere with shipping lanes.

On Tuesday, when US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the formation of a US-led 10-nation naval force known as Operation Prosperity Guardian to deal with the crisis, Australia was not among countries uniting to confront what Mr Austin termed “an international problem that demands an international response”. Seychelles, a speck in the Indian Ocean with a population of 107,000, is among countries that responded positively to the same invitation the Albanese government got from Washington to join the group in defending freedom of navigation through Red Sea shipping lanes. Those lanes are bookended by the Suez Canal in the north and the Bab al-Mandab Strait to the south, through which much of the world’s oil supplies pass. In addition to the US, other nations that have joined the effort include Britain, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway and Spain. The Albanese government’s all-but- certain refusal “signals to the world that Australia is no longer the reliable contributor to global security, the loyal ally or the consistent defender of the so-called rules-based order it once claimed to be”, as chief international correspondent Cameron Stewart writes.

The decision is expected despite Anthony Albanese’s declaration in a speech on Tuesday that “peace must be built, preserved, defended and upheld”. The government says Australia’s preoccupation is with our immediate region. But the navy has given assurances that it could send a warship to the Middle East if ordered. The decision, as Stewart argues, reveals “a timid and insular government, afraid, unwilling or unable to send a single – yes, that’s right – a single warship to the world’s most pressing maritime hot zone in the Red Sea”.

Instead of sending the RAN ship that was requested, we will increase the number of our service people serving in shore-based roles with the US-led Combined Maritime Force in Bahrain. Five ADF personnel currently work there, so it will not be hard to improve on that. It is hardly what our allies have come to expect from Australia at a time of international crisis. We have traditionally played a crucial role alongside the US and other allies in endeavours such as the invasion of Afghanistan after 9/11 to get rid of al-Qa’ida, and in the multinational force that succeeded in defeating Islamic State. Australia’s reputation as a reliable ally demands better than a few more shore-based defence personnel based in Bahrain. The Albanese government’s feeble response to Washington follows its abandonment of the US in last week’s UN General Assembly vote on a Gaza ceasefire – supporting a resolution that did not mention Hamas. Not sending a ship to the Red Sea would be a national embarrassment.