Ministers capable in Abbott’s absence

IT is slightly unconventional for Tony Abbott as Prime Minister to be overseas when the US secretaries of State and Defence visit for AUSMIN.

But it is reasonable for Abbott to visit The Netherlands and Britain now.

Although he has been very active and successful in foreign policy, Abbott is conscious that he never wants to become a version of Kevin 707, always abroad.

But in this short trip he is attending directly to Australian interests. He wants to thank the brave Australians in The Netherlands who have worked to recover bodies and effects from the MH17 crash site, to consult the Dutch Prime Minister, and make a quick stop in London to catch up with key security officials and ministers.

The argument against Abbott making this trip is that he should be at home taking advantage of the opportunity to have dinner with John Kerry and Chuck Hagel and to discuss the pressing and immediate crisis of Iraq.

Even if he were here, Abbott would not formally participate in the AUSMIN meetings. But he would have hosted a dinner for all the ministers involved.

A couple of hours’ conversation with Kerry and Hagel is a serious thing to pass up. It is an opportunity to try to shape their thinking at least a little in Australia’s direction. But Hagel has already spent all day with Defence Minister David Johnston. Kerry flew from Myanmar to Australia in the company of Julie Bishop.

Abbott has had long meetings with both men in the recent past.

No one could seriously accuse Abbott of not taking the US alliance seriously. It is absolutely no discourtesy to the visiting Americans for Abbott to be attending urgent Australian business in Europe.

When Kerry visited Indonesia some months ago he did not have a face-to-face meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who was attending urgent business in another part of the archipelago.

Australia has a thick, dense web of connections with the US. Every contingency involving Iraq will be rigorously workshopped between the two nations, though of course Iraq won’t dominate AUSMIN itself as the chief theatre of co-operation between Australia and the US is Asia.

Of course, not every prime ministerial dinner hosted for the visiting Americans at an AUSMIN has been an unmitigated success.

Former defence secretary Robert Gates recalls Kevin Rudd at such a dinner launching into a long soliloquy on Australian history. When he got to World War I, Gates nodded off.

Sometimes, less is more.