Common interests trump differences of personality

TONY Abbott and Barack Obama are never likely to fall in love — you could hardly imagine two more different politicians.

But they have huge interests, and values, in common as Abbott outlined in a key speech in New York overnight. The Australian Prime Minister, like the American President, rejects the idea that the US is in steep decline.

“Some people say America is a spent force,’’ Abbott said. “They’re wrong.’’

Abbott hailed the continuing key role of the US in Asia, both in security and in economics.

He gave strong support to President Obama’s top regional initiative, the proposed regional free trade agreement, the Trans Pacific Partnership. Obama has struggled to gain any traction for the TPP in Washington, but it is the signature US economic initiative in Asia and a central part of the US “pivot’’ to the Pacific.

Most important, the Australian leader encouraged the US to see the emergence of strong Asian economies as an opportunity for the US, not a threat.

Abbott shrewdly noted that manufacturing activity is returning to the US.

Combined with the abundance of shale gas, he said, this will make the US a stronger economy as Washington consolidates these gains.

Similarly, Abbott struck the theme of the US and Australia’s mutual importance.

Two-way investment runs at a trillion dollars, a staggering sign of the economic intimacy and interdependence of the two Pacific partners.

Abbott wants even more US investment in Australian infrastructure.

On climate change, Abbott will never mimic Obama’s soaring rhetoric.

But there is very little difference between them on actual actions.

Obama’s new targets for cutting carbon emissions from power stations do not involve a carbon tax or an emissions trading scheme, and because they involve only the power sector and start from a later base date than Australian targets, they are more modest than they seem.

There is no prospect at all of the US embracing either a carbon tax or an emissions trading scheme.

Rather, Washington will clean up its coal-fired power stations, just as the Abbott government will clean up Australia’s coal-fired power stations.

In the US, the market is also forcing the substitution of gas for coal.

We are not seeing that in Australia because we sell all our gas overseas, and a combination of Greens and some paranoid farmers is keeping a lot of our gas underground.

For many Australian commentators, when the Obama administration does “direct action’’ on climate change it’s a sign of far-sighted global leadership, but when the Abbott government does something similar it’s supposedly an international embarrassment.

The difference, Horatio, is not in their stars but their rhetoric. Obama overstates US action, Abbott emphasises getting rid of Labor’s carbon tax.

The one personal area where the two leaders might bond is their common love of sport and fanatical devotion to working out despite the demands of public office.

In truth, these bagatelles are of no real concern.

In this speech, Abbott has done two things, which will be the themes of his US visit.

He has supported the US in Asia, and he has reminded the US of Australia’s importance.

He will seek a strong professional relationship with Obama.

With Obama, the Mr Cool of international diplomacy, that’s what he likes.