Abbott and Shorten pass worst of tests

Illustration: Sturt Krygsman.

TONY Abbott and Bill Shorten have both hit the right forceful tone in their responses to the murder of Australians on board the Malaysia Airlines jet shot down over Ukraine.

The Prime Minister is showing national and international leadership, voicing Australia’s anger for the innocent lives blown out of the sky and contempt for the blame-shifting and disregard shown by Russia.

Abbott is leading our national grief and our demand for justice for the dead and answers for the living. He has not been intimi­dated by Russia and has used some of the strongest words of condemnation of any world leader, a point that has won praise in The Netherlands, from where Flight MH17 departed.

Abbott has been at the forefront of condemnation of Russian President Vladimir Putin by loudly and repeatedly saying his country cannot wash its hands of responsibility for a horrific crime that happened in Russian-­controlled territory at the hands of Russian-backed rebels, most likely with a Russian-supplied or facil­itated sophisticated weapon that snuffed out the lives of 298 innocent people, including 37 who called Australia home.

He highlights that Russia is not doing all it can to help secure the crash site to retrieve and repatriate the bodies and allow an independent investigation.

Instead, there is looting of the bodies, the site is trampled, evidence has been removed and monitors have been fired upon.

Abbott also brings to this the anger of a parent and his own “what if?’’ reflections about the attack, revealing that his daughters flew on the exact same flight a few months ago.

“You look at the faces of the dead and they’re your neighbours, they’re your friends, they could be your kids because, let’s face it, we are a people who like to travel and my own daughters flew on MH17 some months ago on their way home from Europe. So this is a tragedy which touches us deeply,” he told ABC TV’s Insiders program yesterday.

Abbott shares the emotion of what he calls these “wrenching times”.

So does the Opposition Leader, who calls it an evil act, the murder of innocent people and a senseless act of barbarity. The aunt of his friend, Labor’s national secretary George Wright, was one of those killed. There is compassion from Shorten and Labor is fully behind and alongside the government and is being regularly briefed by officials.

Shorten and Abbott met yesterday in the Prime Minister’s Sydney office. There is unity in the parliament and bipartisan support for whatever measured responses are needed.

It is in times of great tragedy and unspeakable loss that our leaders, sadly, get the chance to be at their best. Striking the right tone for a nation looking for answers in response to big tragedies is one of the ways politicians show leadership. Many fail the test or are unfairly judged to be wooden in their response.

Abbott and Shorten are displaying sides of their characters that have become hidden by the daily combat of politics that has seen them both marked down by voters. Both show their best selves in times of tragedy.

Abbott was a hands-on health minister when he was on the spot when the second Bali bombing struck in 2005: he helped victims and their families, many of whom remain in regular contact.

And Shorten’s first rise to nat­ional prominence came in 2006, as a union leader, when he became the public face explaining the Beaconsfield mine rescue in a role Kim Beazley described as the “interpreter for Australia” of the gripping race against time.

John Howard surprised critics with his forceful response to the Port Arthur massacre just two months after he came to power in 1996 to become the first political leader to impose gun bans.

In 2001, after the September 11 attacks, and in 2002, after the first Bali bombing, he set the new stand­ard for being mourner-in-chief speaking for, and comforting, the nation. His important role was recognised by Julia Gillard when she invited Howard to go with her to Bali for the 10-year anniversary, praising his “unflinch­ing leadership” as a steadfast, reassuring voice for Australians.

Abbott knows the most important thing is to bring the dead home to their families and to get answers. That means getting swift access to the crash site, which is at the centre of a war zone.

Australia is in a rare position of global standing: it is president of the G20 and holds a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council. It also has a seat at many of the top gatherings of world leaders, such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum and the East Asia Summit; impor­tant trade links with some of the bigger nations of the world; and goodwill through education, cultural, sporting and other people-to-people links.

Abbott has been decisive in bringing together these influences and friendships to seek support for a binding resolution from the Security Council to secure the crash site, recover bodies, have an independent investigation, collect evidence and see justice done.

It is chilling to hear him say he fears Russia will say the right thing but that on-the-ground interference will continue to hinder investigations and prevent the dignified treatment of bodies.

This leads to the understandable demand to immediately un-invite Putin from the G20 Leaders Summit in Brisbane in four months’ time. No one wants to see the Prime Minister shake his hand if he has given comfort and support to the killers and hampered the investigation.

Abbott does not need to make this decision now. He hopes international pressure can bring a “change of heart” and that Putin might “feel a sense of shame”. The Prime Minister cites past examples where jet planes have been shot down, saying there have been apologies, compensation and genuine remorse and regret.

It doesn’t appear likely this time, however, according to Abbott’s judgment, given the Russian ambassador’s initial response — to blame Ukraine — was “deeply, deeply unsatisfactory”.

Cabinet ministers are inform­ally discussing this G20 dilem­ma and know that if Russia doesn’t change its position, Australians will not want Putin in Brisbane.

Nor will Abbott. He will give Putin a chance to “act honourably” but no one should miss his warning that anyone hostile to Australia or who has helped facilit­ate the murder of Aus­tralians is not welcome.

No self-respecting country would allow such a visitor.