The Attitudes of the US Government towards Australia’s Political Leaders and Foreign Policy
The US government and the Australian government have been having a special bilateral relationship in areas of trade and economic ties, national security and Defence, and foreign policies as supported by treaties such as the ANZUS Treaty that was reviewed in 1983 (McLennan, 1996, p.50).
However, Wikileaks, a non-profit media organization that concentrates on revealing suppressed and censored foreign relations information, has offered us some significant insight through it revelations about the attitudes between the two parties involved in this bilateral relationships.
The US government’s attitude towards the Australian foreign policy is that the Australian foreign policy is always supportive and likely to toe the line with that of the US government. For example, from the cable leaked from the US Embassy in Brussels, ‘Australians seek common position with U.S. on WCDR and EU additionality’, the two countries describe each other as like-minded, and through their representatives, they were working on presenting a common position on EC participation at WCDR (WikiLeaks,2005a).
The US government views the Australian government and its foreign policy as a reliable partner whom they can utilize to form strong alliances globally to reduce the threat from their competitors in defense and other economic interests.
According to the statements of Ambassador Thomas schieffer, leaked from US embassy in Canberra on trilateral strategic dialogue aimed at helping Australia to join East Asian Summit (EAS), the US was ready to persuade Japan to use its influence in ASEAN to assist Australia join EAS creating partnership that is open, inclusive and not dominated by China (WikiLeaks,2005b).
Additionally, the US values Australia as a strategic ally who can stand by it even in times when it losses support of other partners such as EU on some global issues. For example, on the verge of EU lifting the arms embargo imposed after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in the East Asian region, the US relied on support of Australia in seeking for support of its goal of not wanting to see the introduction of any new destabilizing armaments or technologies in the region (WikiLeaks, 2005c).
The US government has varied view about the Australia’s political leaders, but generally, it views most of the leaders as supportive towards the US-Australia foreign relations while others as not doing much to promote them further.
For example, Mark Arbib, a right-wing powerbroker, is one of the leaders who is viewed as being supportive and working towards better foreign relations between the US and Australia. He is “a confidential contact of the United States embassy in Canberra, providing inside information and commentary for Washington on the workings of the Australian government and the Labor Party” (Dorling, 2010a). Thus, the US government rates him well as their informant working to send light on US-Australian relationships.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard is another politician who, according to the Wikileaks, is highly appreciated and liked by the US government. She is described as “one of the most pragmatic politicians in the ALP, a rising star, warm and engaging in dealing with American diplomats, a pro-Israel and a leader who has enabled the US alliance to enjoy broad support within the labour government” (Dorling, 2010b).
The US was earlier doubtful of her attitudes towards US-Australia alliance and key foreign policy such as those relating to Israel issues, but later came to view her as a confidant and a strategic leader.
Though a strong supporter of the US alliance, the former Prime minister Kevin Rudd was not highly rated by the US government since, in some instances, he was viewed as ‘a control freak‘, a leader who made many missteps on foreign policy by making snap announcements without consulting other countries or the Australian government (Grattan 2010).
In essence, the US government has always regarded Australian political leaders as being collaborative and always ready to assist the US alliance even if it rated them poorly in some areas.
For example, according to the Wikileaks, Ambassador Robert McCallum understood the then Prime Minister John Howard and the Opposition Leader Kim Beazley as being supportive and holding the bipartisan underpinnings for the US-Australia alliance, and also as leaders who will continue to offer support for continued cooperation within the alliance (TheAge 2006).
The attitudes and behaviour of Australia’s politicians towards the US and US foreign policy
The attitudes and behaviour of Australia’s politicians towards the US and US foreign policy has been quite varied across the political arena and depending on the foreign issues being addressed. Following the Wikileaks revelations, the attitudes and behaviours of the Australian politicians has been revealed as relying heavily on authoritarian instincts that sometimes have led them to overindulge in hyperbole that misrepresent situations and dilemmas to the Australian public in relation to US and US foreign policy.
For example, on Assange’s behaviour, the prime minister and Attorney-General McClelland rushed to judgment that Assange was grossly irresponsible and illegal in his behaviour, and they established a taskforce that concluded that he had not broken any Australian laws (Barrat, 2010).
In many instances, the Australian politicians have been irresponsible in their undertakings and more of sycophants to the US and US foreign policy. This can be clearly illustrated by Mark Arbib’s conduct as alleged by Wikileaks that he was a spy of the US government in the Australian government and the Labour Party (Dorling, 2010a).
This attitude and behaviour is further enforced by conduct of Senator Bill Shorten and former ALP Senator Stephen Loosely who argue that Mark was not a spy of the US government in his conduct, with Loosely admitting he used to play similar roles. Moreover, “the notion that Mark Arbib is somehow a spy is truly absurd and offensive; the Australia-US relationship is based firmly on trust, and the reason we have such a relationship is because both sides are constantly working the patch as far as politics and policy is concerned” (Stewart, 2010).
Additionally, in many instances in the international scenes, the attitudes, and behaviours of the Australian politicians towards the US and US foreign policy has been that of giving ultimate support to the US stand, even if the stand may sometimes be contradicting to the country’s earlier stand.
This incautious attitude can be shown by Australia backtracking on its earlier stand made in 2007 to UN General Assembly regarding UN council position on the Middle East peace. Here, the “Australian officials told the UN in 2008 that the Government had changed its position because it supported a two-state resolution of the conflict to deliver a secure Israel living beside a viable Palestinian state and that Australia believed both sides should abide by their obligations under the Road Map for Peace” (Lynch 2011).
Though generally the Australian politicians have been supportive of the US and US foreign policy, there have been feeling that the government should remain true to its principles and work on implication of the leaked cables rather than relying on the US government for direction. These views are mainly echoed by independent MPs especially Andrew Wilkie and Rob Oakeshott who were advocating that government should be more cautious of its foreign relations in the wake of the leaked cables (Grattan 2010).
Reference List
Barrat, P., 2010. Current affairs and culture from Australia and elsewhere: What the Wikileaks cables reveal about Australia’s leaders. Web.
Dorling, P., 2010a. Arbib revealed as secret US source. The Age. Web.
Dorling, P., 2010b. US diplomats monitored the progress of Gillard. The Age. Web.
Grattan, M., 2010. Labor’s big guns squirm in the Wikileaks glare. The Age. Web.
Lynch, J., 2010. ‘Toeing The Lobby Line’, New Matilda. Web.
McLennan, W., 1996. Year book, Australia, Volume 84. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Stewart, C., 2010. ‘Arbib no spy, says Loosely’. The Australian, 10 December, 2010. Web.
The Age. 2006. Ambassador’s Introductory Call On Opposition Leader Kim Beazley. Web.
Wikileaks. 2005a. Australians seek common position with U.S. on WCDR. Web.
Wikileaks. 2005b. Australia wants trilateral strategic dialogue. Web.
Wikileaks. 2005c. Australia’s view on the EU’s intention to lift its. Web.