AUSTRALIA CAN AND SHOULD MAKE A DIFFERENCE ON THE GLOBAL STAGE

And in more detail...

The world’s poorer nations are the ones that are the worst hit by climate change because they don’t have the resources to mitigate the damage. And on these small island nations, even with unlimited funds, what can reasonably be done to hold back the surging Pacific Ocean?

Australia and New Zealand have long claimed emotional stewardship of “our Pacific Island neighbours”, as our politicians often refer to the nations of Samoa, Fiji, Micronesia, Kiribati, Tonga, Tuvalu, and others. For these nations, the single most important item on their national agenda is, understandably, the existential risk posed to their survival by climate change.

The Good Party would have Australia step up and make a significant financial contribution to the new United Nations’ “loss and damage” fund to compensate developing nations for the ongoing effects of extreme climate change and, specifically, rising seas. 

Australia’s fossil fuels exported to the world have made a real contribution to climate change. Low-lying Pacific Island nations regularly experience the effects of rising sea levels, and there is a real risk that many people will find their lands uninhabitable in the foreseeable future. To these people, the Good Party would extend Australian Citizenship

Extending Australian citizenship to neighbouring victims of climate change

Australia’s fossil fuels exported to the world have made a significant contribution to climate change. Low-lying Pacific Island nations regularly experience the effects of these rising sea levels, and there is a real risk that many people will find their lands uninhabitable in the foreseeable future. To these people, the Good Party would extend Australian Citizenship. That's what a good neighbour would do. It would also present a genuine reason to reject future entreaties from China.

And that brings us to the gorilla in the room. Fear of the People's Republic of China and its aggressive diplomatic, territorial, and economic demands are driving a rethink of Australia’s foreign policy. The rules-based international community of which Australia is a member has no beef with the people or the culture of China but with its current political leadership, which is determined to demonstrate to the world that it is the pre-eminent global superpower.

The Good Party supports moves to normalise relations with China

While it’s true that the frosty relations between Australia and China have seemed to thaw recently, China’s coercive trade practices, undeclared cyber war, influence peddling, spying, and attempts to hammer a wedge between Australia and traditional friends of ours like the Solomon Islands, continue and can’t be ignored.

The Good Party supports the federal government’s cautious moves to normalise relations with the PRC, our largest trading partner. But only insofar as there's mutual regard and respect for each other’s interests, and that means winding back all the impositions China has placed on the relationship.

The Good Party also maintains, as a fundamental issue between our two nations, that the respect of human rights and cultures be upheld, specifically Australia’s right to support the end to the pogrom against the Uighurs, the autonomy of Tibet, and Taiwan’s right to determine its future free of coercion, be it military or economic.

Deepening the ties with regional powers

Recently, Australia has rediscovered the value of relationships. Trade and military ties are crucial to our continued autonomy into the future. Our genuine regard and affection for our largest neighbour, Indonesia, is an important relationship. India, currently our fourth largest trading partner, could one day eclipse China and become our largest trading partner. Japan, our second largest trading partner, holds a special place in our trading relations following the signing of the Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement (JAEP), giving our exporters preferential access to Japan’s market, and providing greater two-way investment between our two nations.

It’s no coincidence that Australia has either long-standing or new security agreements with these nations. To these, add the recent QUAD, a strategic security dialogue between Australia, India, Japan, and the United States; and AUKUS, a trilateral security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom, and, with some increasing reservation, the US (see the Good Party’s policy on Defence).

None of these relationships is about ringfencing China’s ambition. But if history is any guide, and it is, the foundation for peace in a contested region is a balance of trade and security.

Connecting with the global community

In recent years, because of our strategic position in the southern hemisphere and our stable government, Australia has been seen to have greater influence than the size of our economy would ordinarily allow. Australia is a signatory to important global agreements on climate change, human rights, and trade. Australia is a founding member of the United Nations, has held a seat as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council five times, and, until recently, held a non-permanent position on the UN Human Rights Council. The Good Party would see that this engagement with the global community continues. 

An end to Australia's support for the Myanmar military's human rights abuses

Given Australia’s long-standing and vocal support for human rights, it’s shocking to learn that successive federal governments have given long-standing support to the military in Myanmar. This is tantamount to turning our backs on a suite of horrendous human rights abuses, including the murder of dissidents, journalists, and the genocide conducted by Myanmar’s illegal military regime against the Rohingya people. This frankly obscene support has to end immediately, and far-ranging sanctions against Myanmar’s junta must be imposed. Australia should also use what influence it can wield in the UN to broaden the sanctions.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine

The Russian Federation’s invasion of the internationally constituted sovereign nation of Ukraine is unprovoked and unprecedented in post-WWII Europe. It is nothing less than a dangerous precedent that threatens the world's stability. The Good Party wholeheartedly supports the people of Ukraine as they attempt to expel the invader. We also support all humanitarian, financial, and military aid extended by the Australian government, as it’s our belief that the Ukrainian fight for freedom is also being fought on behalf of all nations that desire to live in peace.

The Israel-Gaza conflict

The Good Party is on the side of humanity and justice.

We want to see the Two-State solution, borders along the 1967 “green Line” and with appropriate land swaps, ratified by the United Nations. We want the illegal Israeli settlements on the West Bank demolished, and Netanyahu and his various ministers promoting the utter destruction of Gaza and the targeted killing of its innocent civilians and journalists, arrested and tried in the International Court of Justice for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Good party wants what remains of the jihadist organisation Hamas dismantled, its leaders similarly tried, and the hostages on both sides of the conflict freed and returned. Reparations should be paid to the established Palestinian state by Israel and the United States, the nation that has provided Israel with virtually unlimited weapons throughout the conflict.

Similarly, the bank accounts of Hamas should be confiscated and the proceeds divided amongst the Israeli victims of October 7^th, 2023.

The relationship with the United States

Like it or not, Australia’s most important international relationship is with the US. While America is our fifth-largest trading partner, it is far and away our largest security partner. Currently, the US military is extending the RAAF Tindall base in the Northern Territory to accommodate B-52 strategic bombers. American-designed surface-to-air and surface-to-sea missiles will likely be built under licence in Australia. We are about to spend billions on US Virginia Class nuclear-powered submarines. There is the ultra-secret US intelligence facility at Pine Gap. And there’s the ANZUS security pact between our two nations (and the UK). That said, the norm-busting individual currently occupying the White House and his war on human rights and democracy make it impossible for the Good Party to want anything less than a decoupling of this long-standing relationship. Australia needs to have its own foreign policy that is an instrument of our national interests, not America's.

Taiwan. Would be or wouldn't we?

If China decides to take Taiwan by force, inertia suggests the Australian Defence Force will stand alongside American forces sent to defend Taiwan’s right to self-determination. But that is the point at which the Good Party says we should think long and hard about whether doing so would be in Australia’s best long-term interests. Ambiguity has worked for America. It can do a job for us, too.