Unless your expectations of the Abbott Government were very low, you’d be extremely disappointed. I don’t blame you if they were high; you probably read the Liberal Party’s Policies and Discussion Papers, published in September 2013 – the election month – and were buoyed by all the fabulous things Tony Abbott and his Government were about to do for Australia.
Take, for example, his plans for Indonesia. Or rather, his plans for Australia and the role Indonesia will play. It’s fabulous stuff. They are there for all to see under the section titled The Coalition’s Policy for Foreign Affairs and revealed in The Plan.
Ah, yes, a plan. Being, to Strengthen Relations with Key Partners.
You will need to be sitting down to read this. And do not read it with a mouthful of coffee, or like me, you’ll be cleaning your monitor. It will cause a coffee spray. You’ve been warned. Brace yourself. Here is The Plan:
The Coalition will refocus foreign policy on Australia’s true international interests.
Chief amongst Australia’s relationships requiring renewed focus are:
Indonesia: It is essential to the interests of Australia and Indonesia that we work effectively across a broad spectrum of issues, including regional security, counter terrorism, freer trade and investment flows in East Asia, people smuggling, and action on climate change. The Coalition’s plan to resume control of our borders will help restore the good relationship with Indonesia that Australia previously enjoyed. We will build on the Howard Government’s Lombak Treaty with Indonesia to broaden and deepen security ties and will also aim to improve economic and educational links. We will also do all we can to repair the trade relationship following the live cattle export fiasco and we will also enhance the Australia-Indonesia Leadership Dialogue.
Yes, you did read correctly. It says, I repeat: The Coalition’s plan to resume control of our borders will help restore the good relationship with Indonesia that Australia previously enjoyed. The bullshit is absolutely breathtaking. And you did read that our two countries will work together to take action on climate change. And you did read that Australia will aim to improve educational links. And you did read the Coalition will repair the trade relationship in regards to the live cattle export.
Have you ever read such utter nonsense? If it wasn’t a joke at the time of publication, it certainly is now. It rates high among the list of the most ridiculous aspirations ever strung together by a Government, but not surprising given this is a Government who has absolutely no idea what it’s doing. Look at the Plan again (if you dare) and now look at the facts.
Fact Number One
The Coalition’s plan to resume control of our borders will not help restore our relationship with Indonesia. Well before the election Indonesia had:
… accused Australia’s Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman, Julie Bishop, of promoting an arrogant policy on asylum seekers.
Ms Bishop has been in Jakarta for meetings with top officials including the deputy chairman of Indonesia’s parliament, Hajriyanto Thohari.
Mr Thohari says the Coalition’s policy to send asylum seeker boats back where possible is unfair on Indonesia.
He says he told Ms Bishop that Australian policy on asylum seekers should be more humane and he has accused her of being arrogant in explaining the Coalition’s position.
“In my opinion, that view is a view that is solely focused on Australia’s perspective, without considering Indonesia at all as the country that experiences the negative impacts of the illegal immigrant issue,” he said.
Yet they still went ahead with their ludicrous plan and not two weeks after Abbott won office Indonesia warned:
… that there were no circumstances under which Indonesia would accept Mr Abbott’s boat tow-back policy.
”No, we don’t agree with that. This is, I can say, something like a consensus between the government and the parliament not to agree with the plan which is now being projected by the new Prime Minister, Mr Tony Abbott,” Mr Tantowi said. (Mr Tantowi is a member of the Indonesian parliament’s ”Commission I”, responsible for foreign affairs).
The policy ”annoys our sovereignty as an independent country”.
”I think the policy will be very offensive and we in the parliaments fully support what was said by our foreign ministers, that we will fully reject the policy,” Mr Tantowi said.
The verdict: Epic Fail.
Fact Number Two
The two countries have not worked together in tackling climate change. They never will. The Abbott Government doesn’t believe climate change is an issue worth even raising an eyebrow over. Climate change is crap. And Kaye Lee reminds us that:
We have been condemned worldwide for our moves to repeal the ‘carbon tax’, our abolition of climate change bodies and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) (even though it’s making a substantial profit), our failure to send a politician to the Warsaw climate change talks and our refusal to provide any funding for the Green Climate Fund. At the Warsaw talks we received 4 Fossil of the Day awards, caused a walkout by other delegates frustrated with our obstruction, and were given the overall Colossal Fossil award.
How did they ever keep a straight face writing this promise into The Plan? Do they believe the rubbish they write? The cold hard fact is, they won’t be helping any country tackle climate change. Not even their own.
The verdict: Epic Fail.
Fact Number Three
The Abbott Government will not aim to improve educational links. As reported in The AIMN recently, the Government’s promised A$4.5 billion cuts to foreign would be detrimental for education in Indonesia, citing the Jakarta Post:
There is fear that Abbott’s measure to slash the foreign aid budget will conduce to Indonesia’s poor education quality owing to the fact that the biggest single portion of Australia’s aid spending in Indonesia goes to education.
The verdict: Epic Fail.
Fact Number Four
The Abbott Government may yet destroy the trade relationship in regards to the live cattle export (as well as other industries). It was recently announced that:
Indonesia is now looking elsewhere for its beef and wheat imports as the fallout from the Australian spying scandal continues.
Relations between Australia and Indonesia are at their lowest point since the East Timor crisis, and it seems the political scandal is damaging trade relations. Indonesian Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan told foreign journalists in Jakarta earlier this week the country was considering halting the live cattle trade with Australia.
“The reason for our concern at the moment is quite easily explicable. And you as a human being, I think would understand it — if someone that you trust would do, you know, would do whatever that’s been described,” Wirjawan said.
Last week, Wirjawan asked the Indonesian Parliament to revise health laws and allow the country to import beef from India and Brazil.
Indonesia is Australia’s 12th-largest trading partner, and Australia’s live cattle export trade to Indonesia alone is worth $174 million. The biggest export industry to Indonesia is wheat, worth $1.395 billion a year. This market could also be in trouble, with Indonesia signalling yesterday it was looking at other countries to help with its food security. “There are other places that I think can help us with our food security aspirations,” Wirjawan said.
Australian goods and services exports to Indonesia make up a total of $4.75 billion.
Some may argue (the Australian media chief among them) that the spying scandal is no fault of the Abbott Government. However, as Jakarta have tried to tell us, their real issue is with Tony Abbott.
The verdict: Epic Fail.
I think the Abbott Government needs to race back to the drawing board . . . their plans for Indonesia definitely need an urgent makeover. And one could hold faint hope that the replacement plan isn’t just more pie-in-the-sky bullshit. I don’t hold any hope; my expectations of the Abbott Government were, and will remain, very low.
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