Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] I'm pleased to speak on behalf of the opposition and join Minister Payne in supporting this motion to celebrate and commemorate the 70th anniversary of the ANZUS treaty. In the days ahead much attention will be focused on what conclusions are to be drawn from the 20-year war in Afghanistan that came to an end this week, but, whatever may be said on that debate, what is beyond dispute is the constancy of the bond between the United States and Australia through the struggles in Afghanistan and beyond. Throughout the final days in Kabul America was steadfast as an ally and a dependable friend. If it weren't for the presence and courage of our American allies, efforts to evacuate thousands of Australians and visa holders in the past weeks would never have been possible. That presence came at great cost, losing 13 of their own as they sought to help others. Their ultimate sacrifice reflects the heavy duty of leadership and it's a weight that America has carried since World War II, where the origins of ANZUS are to be found in the war in the Pacific and, of course, Prime Minister Curtin's turn to America.

In late December 1941, three weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Curtin declared: 'Without any inhibitions of any kind, I make it quite clear that Australia looks to America, free of any pangs as to our traditional links or kinship with the United Kingdom.' Curtin was attacked by those who would become today's Liberal Party. American President Franklin Roosevelt was astonished because Curtin was ahead of the US in thinking about strategy and priorities for the war in the Pacific. The US 7th Fleet was formed in Brisbane in 1943. Australia fought with the US in major sea battles of the Pacific. General Douglas MacArthur used Australia as his launching pad for the Pacific land battles that eventually saw the defeat of Japan.

In armed conflicts over more than a century the military forces of Australia and the United States have worked together to secure our shared strategic interests, and the vehicle that gives principal expression to our sense of common security purpose is the ANZUS treaty, whose 70th anniversary we mark today. ANZUS arose in the broader context of the postwar settlement, the Cold War and the Korean War to our north and provided the strategic framework for dealing with re-emergent militarism as a possible threat to security in the Pacific. The treaty underwent a fundamental transformation at the hands of Bob Hawke's defence minister—my friend Kim Beazley—and his US counterpart, Caspar Weinberger, in the mid-1980s. They reoriented ANZUS from a threat based agreement to one that focused on the strategic aspirations and purposes of both parties. Of course, thankfully, our partnership with the US is not as controversial today and it has enduring bipartisan support, and much strategic cooperation has happened since.

Looking forward, Australia's alliance with the United States sits at the centre of the 2020 Defence strategic update. With the US again engaged in a global force posture review, it is time for Australia to look again at our own posture to ensure that it fully meets the times—the last one having been conducted by the most recent Labor government, in which I was minister. So I reiterate to the Senate Mr Albanese's announcement today that a federal Albanese Labor government will initiate a new force posture review on coming to office. The Indo-Pacific will remain the key focus. The review will ensure that the government is considering both long-term strategic posture and, given the fast-moving events in the region, short-term imperatives. The review will also respond to the continued emergence of cybersecurity as a central challenge to Australia's strategic positioning in the coming decade.

The relationship with the US goes far deeper than a security alliance alone. The United States has been a core economic partner of Australia's, and its importance only continues to grow. It remains our key capital investor, underpinning Australian innovation and driving both our countries to take advantage of emerging technologies. At the foundation of our shared economic prosperity is the global rules based order—the systems, norms and institutions that guide the world's interactions and govern disputes. These are the rules of the road, and they are being tested in new ways—a global pandemic that continues to wreak havoc, terrorism and extremism that continue to find safe haven, the return of great power competition, the undermining of rules based trade and the use of economic coercion for strategic ends.

The US and Australia have been close allies in building and strengthening these rules of the road, including in our region. But we need to do more, and we can do more only with friends and partners. So we welcome the return of American leadership and the rules based order under President Biden and his dedicated effort to repair alliances. I've said before that Australia's partnerships and leadership in the Indo-Pacific are our principal value-add to the alliance. We have an opportunity and a responsibility to work closely with the administration as it develops its Indo-Pacific strategy, including building its economic footprint, particularly in South-East Asia. We must work with key partners such as India, Japan, Indonesia and other ASEAN nations, South Korea, the EU, and others to both strengthen economic engagement and uphold the rules of the road. This is because, as much as America's role has changed, its unique capacity to offer balance in the region and leadership in the international order means it remains the indispensable power.

Many of our neighbours want the balance that will come from greater US engagement, and they are clear that must mean economic engagement as well as security partnerships. We should be doing all we can to encourage the US to support Indo-Pacific regional pandemic recovery, reinforce ASEAN's centrality and strengthen regional architecture. We welcome the recent visits of Vice President Harris and Secretary of Defense Austin to South-East Asia, and see these as important first steps in the US step-up in the region. We hope to see this grow rapidly in recognition of the vital strategic importance of this region, and we must be prepared to step up our own engagement to support it. At a time when regional uncertainty is high, a deeper US commitment to ensuring all states have the capacity to protect their sovereignty is vitally important. President Biden's early embrace of the Quad was a welcome development, and there will be much opportunity for further US-Australia cooperation in that context.

While so much of the region's immediate focus is on the response to COVID, its more profound concern is climate change. How we address climate change demonstrates our engagement and alignment with our neighbours. It is in Australia's interest, as a continent highly vulnerable to the worst impacts of climate change, that we urgently apply ourselves to the task of reducing emissions, not only because the costs of climate change are so great for us but also because the world's climate emergency is Australia's job opportunity. Anything less would undermine Australian leadership in the region, leave vacuums for others to fill and abandon those most vulnerable to the worst impacts of a changing climate.

In the United States, senior leaders have talked for years about the security implications of climate change. We know it is having geostrategic and regional impacts as well as direct impacts on defence systems, infrastructure and operations. Secretary of Defense Austin has already identified climate change as a top priority for the US military. At his Fullerton address in July this year he described climate change as an existential threat and a challenge we must meet together, echoing what Pacific island leaders have been saying for decades. The US military has acknowledged that climate change is not a future defence problem but an immediate challenge, and it is time that the Australia-US alliance reflected this reality. We should deepen our cooperation on climate change security issues. We should develop capabilities and shared responsibility to respond to natural disasters, address humanitarian needs and mitigate the impacts of rising temperatures, particularly in our region. We should cooperate on technological development to take advantage of the economic opportunity that comes from the shift to clean energy to deliver cheaper energy prices and facilitate an expansion of high-value manufacturing capability. This helps build economic resilience in the event of future shocks.

An Albanese Labor government would make comprehensive cooperation on climate change a hallmark of alliance cooperation because we recognise that Australia's own action on climate change will shape our capacity to live in a region where our interests prosper in partnership with our neighbours and our American ally. We recognise that this is central to the next phase of an alliance with the United States that Labor has always innovated and that reflects the abiding friendship, trust and affection between our peoples.