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Now we all come from a land down UNder

Richard Marles

by Richard Marles

25 Oct 05:35am

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Filed under: Afghanistan, Politics, Security Council, Un, United Nations

23 comments

Australia’s victory at the United Nations belongs to our service men and women in Afghanistan and beyond; to our police abroad; to our aid workers and diplomats everywhere. These people are the modern global face of Australia. And the trust they have engendered in our country was wholeheartedly endorsed by the nations of the world last Thursday.

It belongs to you, lads. Oh, and Kevin. Pic: Alex Ellinghausen

Testing our place in the world was a powerful and important experience for Australia, and worth every cent that was invested in it.

Australia had to make a run for the UN Security Council, having not served on it in more than a quarter of a century - our longest absence from this body.

As the twelfth largest contributor of troops and police to the UN, Australia should take its turn in having a say as to how and where those troops are deployed.

The decision to pursue a seat on the Security Council was always obvious.

In contrast the decision of the Opposition to make the Security Council bid an issue of political contest was cynical and lacked any sense of the national interest. It also led the Opposition down a dangerous isolationist path as they have sought to argue that because Australia’s priorities are close to home in the Asia-Pacific region, this ought to prevent us from taking an interest anywhere else in the world further than three hours beyond our own time zone.

This is myopic in the extreme and demonstrates how ill prepared the Opposition is to run our nation’s foreign policy.

It takes only a modicum of wit to realise that some of the answers to development in the small island states of the Pacific might lie in the more developed small island states of the Caribbean; that some of the answers to seeing mining yield a dividend to the general populace of PNG might be found in the successful outcome of mining in Botswana.

We live, as we always have, in an interconnected world where taking an interest in the learnings and experiences across the globe is the best way to achieve world’s best practice at home. In this sense running for the Security Council was the natural consequence of a country wanting to play its part in the world and wanting to constantly learn.

Doing this through placing our credentials before the world on a regular basis by running for the Security Council is healthy. For Australian Governments of all persuasions it has been the natural instinct. From 1946 to 1986 Australia served on the Security Council four times in forty years. Under the Howard Government Australia sadly lost its bid to be elected to the Security Council in 1996. Even after that Alexander Downer was keen for Australia to start another campaign in 2001.

Over the years the bi-partisan desire to run for the Security Council has been in Australia’s long term interest. The 2012 successful bid was born of exactly that tradition.

Quite apart from serving on the Security Council, the act of running for it has sharpened Australia’s foreign policy.

Speaking to African nations with whom we would not normally have much interaction has highlighted how fast the African continent is growing economically and how significant is the role being played by Australian mining companies. Government needed to play a bigger role, and now we are, with a much improved aid programme which focuses on mining for development and scholarships for Africa’s best and brightest.

In the Balkans, where there has been little bilateral government activity over the years, we have learned that the large Balkan communities in Australia actually give rise to a very special relationship between our countries: relationships which abound with opportunities and should be developed.

These learnings enhance our foreign policy and represent a legacy well beyond a two year term on the Security Council.

Being on the Security Council is a chance to highlight the security dimensions of climate change which is so important for the Pacific. It is a chance to pursue an Arms Trade Treaty that will limit the trade in conventional weapons which will make Africa a safer place.  And it is a chance to show the world the role Australia has played in bringing peace to Bougainville, Solomon Islands and East Timor.

As a middle-sized country, the best chance we have to shape the world in a modest way and to understand events so that we can best position ourselves to take advantage of the currents of global politics, is to punch above our weight. It is not a matter of pride. It is simply the smart thing to do.

And so above all, the Security Council victory must now ensure that being an activist middle power becomes the mantra of Australian foreign policy.

Comments on this post will close at 8pm AEST.

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23 comments

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    • OchreBunyip says:

      07:22am | 25/10/12

      That Australia had to bribe its way to the seat on the security council is indicative of the corruption of the UN. We should be ashamed of knowingly participated in such a farce.

      Reply

    • Angry God of Townsville says:

      07:42am | 25/10/12

      Need a like button for this one.

    • John says:

      09:02am | 25/10/12

      Personally, I am ashamed - and disgusted.  I was strongly hoping we would miss out for this very reason.

    • PJ says:

      09:11am | 25/10/12

      We bought the Seat for Billions of dollars just to sit there and say “Yes” when America gives us the signal.

      Our tripling of Aid to African despots is distressing. Especially Rwanda, who are paying Militias to wage war in the Congo, creating a huge humanitarian issue.

      Some 40 percent of the Rwandan Governments budget is Foreign Aid.

    • Greg says:

      10:03am | 25/10/12

      Exactly. Billions of dollars in foreign aid bribes wasted, just so that bureaucratic busibodies can stick their interventionist noses in even more places where they don’t belong.

      The UN seat isn’t worth a cent of the money wasted on it. The vote is useless, and can be vetoed by any of the permanent members.

      And as for Australia’s new “prestige” - now we are ranked alongside the world leading nations of Azerbaijan, Morocco, Guatemala and Togo.

      In fact even that’s being generous, because those countries were not so stupid as to pay such huge bribes for their seats.

      Despite the Liberals tepid protestations, their collaboration in UN corruption is not much better than the ALP’s.

      The UN is a non-democratic bureacracy, and the only area where Australia gets to punch above its weight is in its financial contributions.

      We should withdraw from the UN completely. The alternative is not to be “isolationist”. The money would be much better spent on developing multi-lateral relations with countries where such interactions are mutually beneficial.

    • Robert Smissen of Rural SA says:

      11:18am | 25/10/12

      OH so true, the UN makes the Mafia seem like choir boys

    • Robert Smissen of Rural SA says:

      11:18am | 25/10/12

      OH so true, the UN makes the Mafia seem like choir boys

    • Tell It Like It Is says:

      12:50pm | 25/10/12

      Yes @OchreBunyip but the worst thing is the warped nature of this organisation. Nice idea. Doesn’t work. Except from their standpoint. I think there is a big hidden agenda here.  With all these messy internal conflicts in the Middle East and Africa nothing really gets achieved by way of peace via the UN. But that is design. They feed into these ignorant countries’ and leaders’ tribal wars and assist them in a perverse form of ethnic cleansing. Let the thing drag on and on until all the persecuted or unwanted citizens of the wrong tribes or faith become refugees. Then they all disperse throughout the world as part of some grand plan to bring all of us down to the lowest common or poorest denominator. And when everyone is in that condition? Who will be able to assist. But at least we’ll all be equal and then saviour like Swanny and Gillard can step in. But what will they have to work with? Certainly no $.

    • ramases says:

      07:26am | 25/10/12

      This article was a joke right? How can you justify spending over $24m of tax payers money on securing a seat on a toothless tiger like the UN. This money on top of what we already contribute makes your article a mockery. The whole gist of the argument is that now Australia will be expected to pour even more money into overseas countries than we do now and I have to ask why?
        We have seen time and time again the UN’s votes vetoed by countries with vested interests or troops being sent in to monitor countries without weapons and as merely onlookers to the slaughter that continues. Now I don’t know about you but if the UN is going to play the roll of a Universal Policeman then they should have the powers to do just that, not be at the whim of those who as I said have a vested interest in seeing the conflicts continue be if for monetary or ideology or just because it suits there interests at the time.
        The monies that are spent on this would be better of being spent on domestic things like hospitals and roads and getting the dental lists reduced instead of propping up despots in countries that have no bearing on our way of life in Australia.
        As for your comment that have the chance to highlight the security dimensions of climate change which is so important for the Pacific, where is the real scientific evidence that this is a factor in our dealings with other countries. Much has been written and spoken about the problems of Climate Change but the empirical evidence that things are happening because of this so called change is very short on the radar.  We were told that by now most small islands in the Pacific would be swept away by the rising tides that would make most coastal Australian towns unliveable but its just not happening.
        To link our seat on the UN to Climate change and its flow on effects is drawing a long bow but then again this is what we have come to expect from those who will use whatever they can to put their tainted message of doom and gloom across. Pretty said really when taken in context.

      Reply

    • TheRealDave says:

      09:00am | 25/10/12

      $24 million??

      but..but…the LNP advertising arm has been telling me it cost ‘BILLIONS’ for the past few days…...

    • Greg says:

      09:37am | 25/10/12

      The cost of wining, dining and entertaining the UN bureaucrats was $24 million. This sychophantic behaviour was needed just so that they would consider our bribes, which were 100 times greater, and hidden under the foreign aid budgets.

    • Expat Ozzie says:

      09:42am | 25/10/12

      ramases: Exactly which small islands were you told would be underwater by now?

    • Greg says:

      12:11pm | 25/10/12

      @Terry2, so you have discovered that the Liberals are also capable of wasting money? Gee, who knew?

      That still doesn’t justify the UN bribes, and at least the parental leave money goes to Australians.

    • PJ says:

      12:26pm | 25/10/12

      Newspapers quoted $40 to $55 million.

      We’ve tripled AID to African despots

      Then of course theres the $320 Million dollars of Carbon tax monies we’ll be sending over annually.

      Just for a two year ego trip for Gillard and crew.

      Meanwhile in Australia, the two speed economy stutters

    • andye says:

      12:35pm | 25/10/12

      @ramses - “We were told that by now most small islands in the Pacific would be swept away by the rising tides that would make most coastal Australian towns unliveable but its just not happening. “

      No. No, you were not.

    • andye says:

      12:41pm | 25/10/12

      @Terry2 - “Do you know what Tony Abbott’s proposed parental leave scheme is likely to cost”

      Haha, indeed. Something quite similar to the yearly NBN investment. The main difference being that the NBN dollars are scheduled to be repaid, will provide national infrastructure that will allow our tech sector to compete on an even footing internationally, and improve the communication across our vast nation.

      Tony plans on spending the same amount of money (which will come from a brand new business tax on the top X companies) to pay people not to work. This (top X companies) is a similar model to the carbon tax, but apparently nobody is worried about costs being passed onto consumers on this one.

      Of course, in conservative logic Tony is pro-business and Labor is anti-business. Go figure.

    • evelyn says:

      10:25am | 25/10/12

      Winning the U.N seat is a disaster because the U.N is now corrupted. In the past, the U.N. had one saving grace - it was a vehicle by which the West could spread Western democracy and the Western conception of universal human rights. Sadly the growth of Muslim populations worldwide has given them increasing strength. By voting as a cohesive block through the 57 member Office of Islamic Cooperation (O.I.C.), the single united Muslim Ummah of 1.4 billion people are gradually succeeding in making the U.N. abandon its commitment to universal human rights in favor of cultural relativism.
      Cultural relativism, deceptively sold on the basis of ‘respect’ for sovereignty, or anti-colonialism, or anti-Zionism (the U.N, Genaral Assembly has even itself equated Zionsim, simply Jewish nationalism, with racism) or anti- racism, is actually the most pernicious attack on human rights the world has ever known. Why? This is because, if all cultures are equal, as cultural relativism demands, then all cultural practices are equal too.  Since law is culture then all laws are also equal. If all laws are equal, then shari’a law is the same as modern Western laws based on universal human rights as set out in the U.N’s own international bill of rights – the ICCPR and UN Declaration on Human Rights. If all laws and cultures are equal, then theocracy is the same as democracy.
      The Muslim Ummah now has its own alternative U.N. - the OIC - and its own human rights charter the Cairo declaration - that makes all human rights subject to sharia law.  By increasing political pressure at the U.N backed by terrorism, they are gradually forcing the U.N to abandon universal human rights and implement sharia law. This explains why Ban Ki Moon met with Iran’s leader recently at the Non-Aligned Nations conference instead of calling for Amedinejad to be indicted for genocide incitement as Mitt Romney has rightly demanded; this is why the U.N has passed 16/18 supporting sharia blasphemy laws worldwide even in non-Muslim countries on the basis of opposing Islamophobia. This is why the U.N has actually taken part in military actions to oust so called dictators in order to install theocratic sharia law Governments. This is why the U.N remains largely mute when Christians are ethnically cleansed from places like Bosnia, Egypt, Libya, Syria. This is why the U.N. allows Muslim countries to exclude non- Muslims such as in Mecca or Jews from Malaysia. This is why the U.N takes no effective action to stop Muslim countries legally harshly penalizing blasphemy, apostasy and proselytizing of other religions.
      Theocracies, that put immutable God made law above man made law can never be democratic even when elected. It is that simple. But under cultural relativism they can.  PM Gillard and Minister Carr simply lack the intellectual and moral capacity to resist cultural relativism and sharia law. By making multiculturalism, which is based on cultural relativism, Government policy, they have actually entrenched it. Carr’s response to the blasphemy riots here in Australia was actually to implement sharia quicker by his suggestion of allowing Muslims a Government sanctioned forum to protest (but really to incite violence and vilify Australians and Christians with legal impunity) whilst ratcheting up the punishments of ordinary Australians opposing sharia on the basis of opposing Islamophobia.  The Gillard Government allows encroachment of sharia law every day in Australia (burqa wearing, Halal meat, sharia banking, separate family law courts, sharia wills). Winning the U.N seat will simply increase the pressure and the concessions. It will bring on sharia sooner. Reformist and moderate Muslims and all those genuinely committed to human rights must unite and resist now - before it is too late.

      Reply

    • ghanga darin says:

      11:13am | 25/10/12

      This article is a classical example of the internationalist mindset. What exact reasons are we given for the constant mantra that a globalised borderless world is good v strong nation State and State sovereignty is bad? A: None whatsoever.  The truth is that there are just as many negatives to a borderless world ruled by supranational agencies (‘UNtopia’) such as the U.N., as a world in which no supranational agencies existed. The first and foremost is that ‘UNtopia’ is fundamentally undemocratic. Individual citizen voters and taxpayers have little or no control. They are not meant to.
      The wet dream of UNtopians is to have a U.N. defence force controlled by the U.N. , guided by a U.N. Parliament (with voting power determined by population size alone – remember Bob Brown’s ‘Fellow earthlings’ speech supporting this ) that can override States, and a U.N. judiciary with universal jurisdiction. Gradually this dream is becoming reality. Gareth Evans ‘responsibility to protect’ was a victory for UNtopians – it was a clear expression of the determination of the U.N to push aside States whenever it chooses (on the pretense of humanitarian reasons) so as to intervene in any conflict it chooses and install new Governments. The Arab Spring, really the Arab Winter, is a clear example of what this will mean. The truth is that, just like in Iraq, one Government is simply being replaced with another, but even more disastrously with theocratic Governments that intend to implement sharia law (which law breaches just about every international human rights norm the U.N. was supposed to stand for !). The role of taxpayer in the nation State in UNtopia is simply to provide the finance for elites to spend through aid budgets and on wars decided upon by the UNSC and UNGA not the democratic will of individual nations. In UNtopia there is no rule of law because the democratic will of State parliaments means nothing, instead international law is placed above domestic law. We have no control of our borders now because our own High Court is captive to the internationalist mindset and overrides any attempt to enforce Australian law. 
      The writer’s lobbying for U.N involvement is nothing more than a self-serving plea for more lucrative jobs and power for a small bunch of elites, paid for by ordinary taxpayers who have no say. It is taxation without representation. Winning the U.N. seat is a sad day for Australian democracy.

      Reply

    • PJ says:

      12:32pm | 25/10/12

      We’ve spend billions on this ego trip and Swan cannot get his figures right at home.

      Swan has twice blundered this morning in claiming his mining tax will raise $9 billion this year. But this turns out to be $7 billion more than the Budget figures.

      Swan’s big secret, that monies doled out to Australians from the MRRT is in fact a loan, have been discovered today. Swan’s been found out again.

      I’ve been saying this for months of course.

      Swan cannot tell the difference between the four-year estimates for the tax’s revenue and its forecast take this year.

      Yet they’ve signed off an annual commitment to sent $320 Million to Africa, so those States can continue their wars .

      Reply

    • Swamp Thing says:

      02:12pm | 25/10/12

      These are dark times indeed…..

      Reply

    • Greg says:

      04:59pm | 25/10/12

      but at least we can order some “humanitarian bombing” campaigns, as the UN Security Council is wont to do.

    • Richard says:

      04:30pm | 25/10/12

      We should have got our gig on the Security council on the basis of being a foundation member of the UN (San Francisco )and we should have gotten more credit for all the peace keeping missions we have participated in since 1948. Some may only have 3 or 4 observers but it is still a peace keeping mission.

      Reply
 
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