Anthony Albanese’s ducking and weaving over Russia’s ties with Indonesia is disingenuous at best.
Perhaps it’s his growing confidence that he has the election in the bag. But to suggest as he did on Monday that pursuing this issue is promoting Russian “propaganda” is ridiculous and takes voters for mugs.
Peter Dutton made a mistake last week when he said Russia’s reported request to base long-range aircraft in Indonesia was “publicly announced by the President of Indonesia”.
It gave Labor a handy line – that he had “verballed” a key diplomatic partner making him unfit to be prime minister.
But Labor’s constant deflection of questions on the issue papers over the very real risks of closer military ties between Moscow and Jakarta.
The report by the respected Janes defence journal last week that Moscow had issued a formal request to base aircraft on Biak Island, in Indonesia’s Papua Province, did not come out of the blue.
Russia and non aligned Indonesia have strong historic links, and Moscow remains a big arms supplier to Jakarta.
Indonesia’s new President Prabowo Subianto signed up his country to the China and Russia-led BRICS nations’ grouping soon after his October inauguration. Weeks later, Indonesia and Russia conducted their first-ever bilateral naval drills in Indonesian waters.
Furthermore, Russia has used Biak Island before, staging surveillance missions from there in 2017.
Whether the Russian request was for a “base” or simply to use Indonesia’s territory, as the US does Australia’s, is unclear.
But Indonesia has not denied a request of some sort was made, and says other nations’ military aircraft and vessels are free to undertake “peaceful missions” from its territory.
Indonesia’s foreign ministry spokesman also confirmed the country is working on developing a spaceport on the island, which he failed to mention is a joint venture with Russia.
If this goes ahead, Russia would be a constant presence on Biak Island, and Moscow would have far greater influence over Jakarta than it does now.
All of this is bad news for Australia, and will be no surprise to the nation’s intelligence agencies.
The murkiness of the issue, assisted by Labor’s obfuscation, makes it a difficult one for voters to get excited about.
But it seems clear this has been an example of timid diplomacy by the Albanese government.
If it has raised objections about Indonesia’s closer relations with Russia, they have been raised too quietly, making it easier for Jakarta to continue cosying up to Moscow.
The government doesn’t want to talk about any of this, especially in an election context, because it highlights, once again, the precariousness of Australia’s strategic circumstances when our major ally is suddenly less reliable.
This is without even considering the threat posed by China, which is more assertive than ever in probing Australia’s defences.
All of this calls into question the adequacy of Australia’s deterrence, which is far from where it needs to be and a long way from being fixed despite Labor’s rhetoric.
Peter Dutton will put the spotlight on Australia’s strategic challenges this week when he unveils the Coalition’s defence policy, promising to spend more on new military capabilities than Labor.
He’ll have a fair bit of material to work with.
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