Meeting that strengthened our ties with US

Prime Minister Tony Abbott meets US President Barack Obama in the Oval Office.

A NEW framework now supports Australia’s treaty alliance with the US in the most important achievement of Tony Abbott’s overseas tour.

The Prime Minister has strengthened the nation’s friendship with its most important ally in the central moment of his time in four countries over 10 days.

After an uneven period this week, the overseas mission produced a substantial agreement on regional security with Barack Obama, ending talk of a frosty reception when the Prime Minister met the President.

Abbott cannot take all the credit for the outcome, which builds on the work of at least three Australian leaders, but there is no doubt about the personal dividend. While the Prime Minister has struggled at times to set out his own vision for Australia’s internat­ional relations, he returns home from Washington this weekend with a solid diplomatic achievement to his name.

Abbott believes the benefit to Australia is that its views have been heard in his visits to Indonesia, France, Canada and the US since he left Canberra on June 4.

After a meeting with Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, he continued on to commemorate the D-Day invasions in Normandy before meeting Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and then arriving in New York and Washington.

There is a clear personal gain from an affable meeting with the US President but that should be a low priority. The goal is surely to advance the national interest.

“I think that in Indonesia, in Paris, in Ottawa, in New York and now in Washington we have had our moment to be listened to and be taken seriously,” Abbott tells Inquirer.

“And if you make the most of these moments there’s a lasting improvement in your standing and in your clout, and I think we have done pretty well, frankly, over the past few days.

“We’ve reminded people, in various countries including here in the US, that we are a rather more significant actor on the world stage than they might always be inclined to think. That’s important.”

Critics are likely to dismiss the new military framework as a minor affair. They will be wrong.

The White House regards the outcome as hugely significant to the modernising of the alliance between the two nations, giving them a stronger capacity to respond when new threats emerge.

It is also another stage in the American shift towards Asia, one of the most important developments in world affairs when China is seeking to exercise its power over its neighbours. Abbott’s major theme in recent speeches — that Asia needs America — is now expressed in a concrete agreement that gives Obama and his successors more scope to project force into the region.

While Obama announced a “pivot” to Asia in his speech to federal parliament in Canberra at the end of 2011, this was not a sudden departure in strategy at the time. He had started the focus on Asia in early 2009, months after he was elected, with a treaty of amity and co-operation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

As recently as April, the engagement with Asia continued when Obama tightened security agreements on a visit to South Korea, Japan, The Philippines and Malaysia. At each stop on the tour, China seemed to protest at another agreement it saw as a threat.

Administration officials dismiss the idea that the “pivot” is running out of energy. They can point to the framework with Australia as proof. In concrete terms, say officials, the legal agreement is essential to closer military co-operation between the two countries on Australian soil or in Australian ports.

If the US Defence Department needs new facilities in Australia to support its forces — such as the US Marines based in Darwin — then it must have the legal framework in place to do the construction work.

The framework is also essential if the US is to extend a runway to take some of its aircraft or build more fuel stores on Australian land. It is also necessary if the US deployment in Darwin is ever replicated in other parts of the country.

Inquirer was told that while the initial announcement on troops in northern Australia was made in November 2011, that was only sufficient to start the work and a more compre­hensive agreement was always needed.

Having an agreement in place allows for the sustained deployment of US troop or other military deployments to Australia, including more personnel over time.

The US would not have pursued the framework otherwise; it is only in place because there is an aspiration to do more. It is there to support greater US deployments over time if Australia agrees.

This is a substantial outcome, but not one that Abbott can claim his own. Like it or not, he is inheriting some of the good work done by his predecessors and building upon it, rather than setting out a new vision of his own.

It was Julia Gillard who announced the initial agreement with Obama in November 2011 soon after the President addressed federal parliament in Canberra.

Abbott’s fundamental pledge to America in a speech on Thursday — “you’ll never walk alone” — would not be so convincing without John Howard’s decision to invoke the ANZUS treaty in September 2001 and Gillard’s decision to invite US troops on to Australian soil and risk the backlash from China. And the central claim in Abbott’s assessment of the trip — that Australia is gaining “clout” — might be different if Kevin Rudd had not started the work to gain a seat on the UN Security Council.

A clear vision was lacking at key points in the Prime Minister’s tour. The government’s G20 agenda was relatively neglected even though it will be a major test for Abbott when he hosts world leaders in Brisbane in November. The agenda seemed a low priority even as he met the leaders of Britain, Germany, France, Canada and the US.

The Prime Minister’s constant theme in his speeches — that his government is “open for business” — may suit his domestic agenda but misses an opportunity to project a bigger vision of Australia’s foreign policy ambitions.

Abbott’s visit to Asia in April showed him at his best: he used a deft touch to build friendships with leaders in Japan, South Korea and China; he had a powerful message to assure the three ­nations that Australia could be a friend to all; and he delivered hard outcomes on trade.

Some of that skill was missing over the past 10 days.

Even so, Abbott returns home with a strengthened alliance with the US. It is a foundation stone for a fuller agenda that is yet to be revealed — and may need time to be devised.