Moment of truth for Australia’s future

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Lead Editorial

25 October 2023
Vol. 25 No. 43

STOP PRESS: Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles announced today that RAAF aircraft and a significant number of defence personnel will be sent to the Middle East. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is currently in Washington DC, where presumably he discussed this decision with the Biden administration. Marles would not give any details of the deployment, but it adds to the escalation that is growing more dangerous by the minute. Last week, on 18 October, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Russia would be conducting air patrols over the black sea, with jets equipped with hypersonic missiles, which he said would “exercise visual control, control with weapons of what is happening in the Mediterranean Sea”, where the USA has deployed two aircraft carrier groups to back up Israel.

The above news reinforces the importance of the following editorial for this week’s AAS.

Compare the pair:

• Xi Jinping, President of Australia’s major trading partner, this week announced approximately US$100 billion in funding for new Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) infrastructure projects.
• Joe Biden, President of Australia’s major “ally”, this week announced a bill for approximately US$100 billion in funding for military spending in Ukraine, Israel, and the “Indo-Pacific” (namely Taiwan).

The contrast between investing in improving human living standards or investing in destroying human life couldn’t be clearer. With Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese currently travelling to both the United States and China, this is Australia’s moment of truth—which direction are we as a nation going to take?

Shamefully, in Washington Albanese has been reduced to being a lobbyist for Biden and the military-industrial complex. He is trying to convince Congress to pass Biden’s Pentagon budget bills as, among the hundred billion dollars’ worth of military spending (most of which is going to US arms manufacturers to replenish their depleted stockpiles), the bills include the authorisation to sell three Virginia-Class nuclear submarines to Australia, which some Senators are reluctant to do.

Albanese papered over his shame with this statement declaring the United States is Australia’s most important relationship: 

“In today’s turbulent world, it is a relationship that provides security, stability, based upon our common values and our position as great democratic nations working together to promote those values throughout the IndoPacific and throughout the world”, he said. (Emphasis added.)

Meanwhile, in accordance with those “values”, Albanese has given no indication he intends to advocate face-to-face with Biden for the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Nor will he advocate for Australian citizen and father of six Dan Duggan, who is in solitary confinement in Australia for at least another seven months on conspiracy and money laundering charges contrived by US authorities seeking to make an example of anyone who ever did business with China, in order to incite hysteria about a fictitious China threat that can justify their continued escalation to war.

In the first week of November, Albanese is scheduled to spend three days in China, if, indeed, he still goes—don’t be surprised if he backs out because this week Biden tells him to. But, presuming he does go, there’s been a lot of goodwill on the Chinese side for this visit, including the release of Cheng Lei and the progress on ending Chinese tariffs on Australian wine.

But what’s Australia’s actual intention for this relationship? Unfortunately, it contrasts dramatically with our sycophancy towards the US military-industrial complex. For example, while Albanese is happy to lobby the US Congress to spend more on wars, he did not send a representative to Beijing last week for the Third Belt and Road Forum to discuss, or even observe, the massive investments in economically uplifting infrastructure. Another contrast is with New Zealand, which has had a change of government, but is unequivocal in defending its relationship with China against Anglo-American criticism.

Australia has to choose: stay on the path to WWIII, or change course to peaceful economic development?

In this issue:

• Truth Not War—support whistleblower David McBride at his unjust trial on 12-13 November
• Is Taiwan buying political influence in Australia?
• Five Eyes revives ‘IP theft’ furphy ahead of Albanese’s China trip
• Belt and Road Forum maps new phase of development
• The curse of QE continues
• Strategic Commission report revives ‘Dr Strangelove’
• Stop the slaughter in Southwest Asia! Human survival depends on courage to change!
• Demand truth not war!
• A view from the past: Look what has been achieved!
• ALMANAC: ‘Fivecenturies of Euro-Atlantic hegemony have come to an end’

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