Islamic State: Australia has ’moral obligation’ in Syria, says Bob Carr

Tony Abbott has recounted how Barack Obama suggested escalating Australia’s role in Syria to him in a phone call.

Bob Carr said Australia could “trust the realism and the restraint of the Obama administration”.

The national security committee of cabinet will meet next week to discuss the prospect of launching air strikes into Syria, Tony Abbott said today, as he recounted how Barack Obama suggested escalating Australia’s role to him in a phone call.

The Abbott government is considering a formal request from Washington to expand Australia’s air warfare role across the border from Iraq into “ungoverned” regions of Syria dominated by Islamic State.

The Prime Minister, questioned about whether he pushed the US to request further Australian assistance, said “it was raised with me by President Obama” during a phone call he initiated to discuss multilateral trade.

“I was on the other end of the phone line. The president was on Air Force One. The president had initiated this phone call to talk about the Trans-Pacific Partnership and — after I had initially expressed my condolences for the terrorist shootings in Chattanooga (on July 16) — the president then raised with me the Syrian situation and said he would be very glad if Australia would do more including air strikes,” Mr Abbott said at Bamaga, on Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula.

“I said I would be happy to consider that request and our officials would talk, and now this request has come from the Pentagon.”

The national security committee comprises Mr Abbott, Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, Attorney-General George Brandis, Treasurer Joe Hockey, Defence Minister Kevin Andrews and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, with Finance Minister Mathias Cormann co-opted as required.

‘Moral obligation’

Australia has a “moral obligation” to join the air warfare campaign in Syria, says former Labor foreign minister Bob Carr, noting the “realism and the restraint” of Barack Obama compared with his predecessor George W Bush.

Mr Carr — a former NSW premier and now director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology, Sydney — said there was “a powerful case” for Australia to help prevent ISIS committing “mass atrocity crimes” against new populations in Syria.

“I think the West has really got a moral obligation to act where it can be argued there’s a chance of saving civilian populations from the mass atrocity crimes that seem to follow very quickly when ISIS takes control of territory,” he told ABC Radio.

“We can trust the realism and the restraint of the Obama administration, compared with the adventurism you saw from the Bush administration.

Mr Carr’s comments came as Treasurer Joe Hockey declined to comment on whether the government pressed Washington to formally request that Australia begin striking targets outside Iraq.

“I’m sure they’ve had many discussions about the issue from time to time but the fundamental point is the US made the request to us and we are considering that request,” Mr Hockey, who sits on the national security committee of cabinet, told ABC TV.

Labor frontbenchers, including foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek, have raised concerns about the legal basis for engaging Islamic State in Syria, given the lack of a UN Security Council mandate or an invitation from the crippled regime of dictator Bashar al-Assad.

Mr Carr said: “I think it is going to be hard to operate without a decision of the UN Security Council, but there is an obligation for us to act to prevent populations from mass atrocity crimes. It’s reflected in the principle of responsibility to protect, that the nations of the world agreed on in 2005.

“I’m not saying it’s iron clad, I’m not saying it can be applied to what’s happening in Syria, clearly and unequivocally.”

Labor immigration spokesman Richard Marles said the opposition had received an initial briefing on the proposed escalation.

“We are very mindful that this is a request from our major ally, the United States, for us to do this. We obviously are going to go about this in a constructive, bipartisan manner and we want to work with the government on that,” Mr Marles told Sky News.

“But I think it is very important for the government to be able to explain … to the Australian people the legal basis for any change and the strategic rationale for any change.”

The government has argued there is “no real government in Syria” that could invite Australian involvement, as the country’s border with Iraq was essentially “ungoverned”

Tony Abbott said on Sunday: “The terrorists don’t respect the border, so why should we?”

Today, Greens leader Richard Di Natale repeated his party’s position that any deployment of Australian troops overseas should be put to parliament for a vote.

“Australia needs to have its own independent foreign policy, and the Parliament should decide whether or not we send Australians into harm’s way,” Senator Di Natale said.

“Syria should be a red line in Labor’s bipartisanship on this. Australia’s involvement in Iraq is not making us safer, so why would we extend the mess to Syria?”

With AAP