Editorial
Albanese should not be missing in action from NATO summit
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s rejection of an invitation to attend the NATO summit in Washington joins a growing list of dubious decisions, this one sacrificing geopolitics to domestic politics.
Anthony Albanese has taken only one overseas trip this year. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Albanese was expected to gather with counterparts from Japan, South Korea and New Zealand as members of the so-called “Indo-Pacific Four” and other world leaders at the summit marking NATO’s 75th anniversary beginning next Tuesday. Instead, Defence Minister Richard Marles will represent Australia.
Diplomatic sources have told the Herald’s Europe correspondent Rob Harris the Australian leader’s absence would be disappointing as the gathering was aimed at sending a message that the world’s leading democracies are united when it comes to preserving the rules-based order.
While Australia is not a NATO member, it is one of NATO’s “partners across the globe”, with permanent observer status. Currently, two factors make Australia a higher priority for NATO: first is its significant contribution to Ukraine; second, NATO’s growing focus on Indo-Pacific security issues is of prime importance to Australia.
Albanese’s summit absence is unprecedented. In his first year as prime minister, he attended the summit in Madrid; last July, he went to Vilnius. Both years, the opposition tried to have it both ways; Coalition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham demanded Albanese go to Vilnius, while the year before there was a pile-on as shadow treasurer Angus Taylor, immigration spokesman Dan Tehan and Nationals leader David Littleproud criticised his frequent flying so that when he returned, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and partisan media jumped on the “Airbus Albo” bandwagon.
This NATO summit may have been Albanese’s last meeting with President Joe Biden as heads of states and the first with Keir Starmer, who is expected to become the UK’s prime minister after Thursday’s election.
Harris reported that Albanese was unable to confirm a bilateral meeting with Biden, and that possibly played a decisive role in his decision to pass on the NATO summit. Staying home, he could promote the stage 3 tax cuts and wrestle with the cost-of-living crisis and inflation and not face further criticism of his international travel.
In fact, Albanese has cut back dramatically on his travelling. After 18 trips, this year he has flown only to Papua New Guinea for Anzac Day ceremonies. Last month, he became the first Australian prime minister in four decades not to attend a milestone commemoration of the D-Day landings in France, and he declined Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s invitation to attend a peace summit in Switzerland.
So his summit non-attendance is a shame, not least because the Albanese government has admirably repaired much of the damage done to some of our foreign relationships during the Morrison years. Now our government appears content to fritter some of those achievements as the old certainties fray and Europe and the Middle East burn with war, while geopolitical embers glow in our own region as China courts the Pacific.
The Coalition has justifiably attacked Albanese for not attending this summit, Birmingham saying it would be a dereliction of duty for the prime minister not to attend: “putting Australia’s national security interests and national security partnerships with our democratic allies first and foremost in his responsibilities”.
Given our geographic place in the world, the reality is that to have our voice heard and taken seriously internationally, Australia needs to front up.
Certainly, Marles and our man in Washington, ambassador Kevin Rudd, will serve Australia well at the NATO summit. But we can only wonder if our three “Indo-Pacific” allies may think being bracketed with second bananas is a diplomatic slight. This is a gathering of world leaders. And as our leader, Albanese should front up.
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