Quad our biggest pact in 70 years, says Scott Morrison

Scott Morrison has hailed the strengthening of the ‘Quad’ with the US, Japan and India as the most important development for Australia’s security in the past 70 years.

Scott Morrison at the inaugural Quad leaders meeting on Saturday. Picture: AAP

Scott Morrison has hailed the strengthening of the “Quad” with the US, Japan and India as the most important development for Australia’s security in the past 70 years.

Days after the first meeting of Quadrilateral Security Dialogue leaders, the Prime Minister told government MPs the four-­member club of Indo-Pacific dem­ocracies was now “a seriously big deal”.

“There are things that happen in the life of a government that transcend the generations,” he told the Coalition partyroom on Tuesday. “This is, I would argue, the most significant thing to have occurred to protect Australia’s security and sovereignty since ANZUS.”

He said the Quad, which is aimed at countering growing Chinese assertiveness in the ­region, aimed to show to the ­region “that liberal democracy is a way to get things done that ­preserves the freedom of our ­citizens”.

In a dig at former prime minister Kevin Rudd, whose government announced Australia’s withdrawal from the grouping in 2008, Mr Morrison said the ­Coalition had worked hard to strengthen the Quad to protect Australian security and sovereignty. “This is a project that our government has championed.

“This is a project that fell into disrepair previously,” he told parliament.

The ANZUS alliance between Australia, the US and New Zealand has its 70th anniversary in September.

Mr Morrison has invited US President Joe Biden to Australia to celebrate the milestone.

China branded the Quad meeting between Mr Morrison, Mr Biden, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga as destabilising for the region, but Mr Morrison said the grouping was focused on securing regional peace and prosperity, and addressing “the practical challenges our region faces”.