Michael Fullilove's article in the SMH this morning seems to me to reach a conclusion that is rather at odds with the details.
He thinks Abbott has done well on foreign affairs, yet notes that in two respects (being a "globalist" not a "regionalist", and enthusiastic use of the UN Security Council) he is doing quite the opposite to what he indicated in Opposition. Maybe "Windvane Comes Good" should be the true title of the piece.
But it gets worse. Fullilove acknowledges that Abbott has had at least one really crook idea, but fortunately was been talked out of it:
A related concern is that Abbott shows a tendency towards imprudence.So Fullilove thinks the "shirt front" episode was just a bit of trivia: I would have thought it a sign of stupid imprudence in language, which tends to be important in foreign affairs.
The shirt fronting saga is a trivial example, but there is a more
serious one. According to news reports, in the aftermath of the MH17
crash he wanted to put one thousand Australian troops onto the crash
site in Eastern Ukraine. Such a deployment would have presented
unacceptable risks to Australian personnel as well as unprecedented
logistical problems for the Australian Defence Force. Why on earth would
we put so many of our people between such bitter enemies? Luckily,
cooler heads prevailed.
I really don't get how Fullilove then gets to the conclusion that Abbott has been impressive in foreign affairs: especially since I think this week lots of people are probably starting to question what an odd look it is to be willing to spend hundreds of millions on a military deployment to Iraq that appears to be doing very little*, while at the same time looking scared and shy of getting meaningful assistance to the Ebola affected nations up and running.**
I will grudgingly agree that Bishop has performed better than I expected in her role. It seems odd, doesn't it, the way some people turn out to be reasonable as foreign ministers - I always thought that Downer was a surprise success as well. I think it probably just takes lawyers who are good in face to face "people skills", and perhaps being too intellectual (hello, Bob Carr) works against a foreign minister.
Anyway, I am rathered surprised at Fullilove's article, and have to view him with suspicion from now on!
* since I wrote this, it was announced that the RAAF had a couple of terrorist "kills", but we don't know any details.
** And when, by the way, are any journalists going to start questioning the wisdom of sending over ground advisers who have nothing to do for weeks until the lawyers get the status of forces issue sorted out with the Iraqi government?)
to use the term shirt front was stupid because not only was it statesmanlike it has two different meanings depending on whether you follow Aussie rules or Rugby!
ReplyDeleteThe Ebola response has been embarassing
I simply don't believe the one thousand troops story. I think we may be at political odd ends of the spectrum but as a WA conservative I never really thought much of Ms Bishop's efforts prior to this government and am willing to say I was wrong about her. There is no doubt the rest of the western world is relieved that Australia now has some grown ups in charge. Ms Bishop is one of the reasons for that change of attitude. We just have to hope the United States gets a grown up into the Whitehouse again soon.
ReplyDelete