Tides That Bind by Richard Marles;

Author:Richard Marles;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: International Specialized Book Services
Published: 2021-07-21T00:00:00+00:00

FORMIDABLE EXPERTISE

Our significant presence in the Pacific has allowed us to acquire formidable regional expertise. However, this wisdom is not yet properly valued.

Having spent seventeen months solely focused on the Pacific, in March 2012, in addition to being the parliamentary secretary for Pacific island affairs, I was appointed the parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs. This saw me play a more global role, particularly in the lead-up to the vote which would see Australia elected to the UN Security Council. As I spent more time talking to diplomats about our bilateral relationships beyond the Pacific, I was struck by how frequently, at the end of a conversation, the topic would turn to our region.

Representatives of European countries were invariably interested in the efforts of other developed nations to engage in development assistance. While they would naturally focus on development in Africa, they sought my view about progress in the Pacific. There was deep acknowledgement of Australia’s expertise in the region. In regards to Africa, the perspective was different but the interest just as great. Many countries on that continent were struggling with their own development challenges and saw in the Pacific another part of the world experiencing a similar journey. Questions about health and education challenges abounded. African nations also expected us to take a leading role in the Pacific.

Australia’s deep understanding of the Pacific is also clearly recognised by the United States. In 2011, I remember talking with a senior American official about this subject. There was a certain frustration on his part. He appreciated the views being shared about many parts of the world, particularly Asia, but his attempts to seek a direction from Australia concerning policy intent in the Pacific had come to nought. The United States is a global superpower, he assured me. It had assets and resources and influence, he continued, adding that the United States was willing to place them at our disposal in the Pacific if we would only tell them what we wanted them to do.

This conversation was a revelation to me. As I tried to defend Australia’s honour, the truth was that I utterly shared his frustration. I was a relatively junior figure trying to assert my opinions and ideas, but I was constantly coming up against an entrenched view of the world which had the Pacific a long way from the centre of Australia’s perceived national interest.

The United States is the subject of our most important bilateral relationship. This association is wide and deep, covering everything from defence to sport to medical research. Inevitably, it is a relationship characterised by Australia following America’s lead. This makes sense: the United States has a population of nearly 330 million, is the world’s largest economy, and is a true superpower, whereas Australia has a population of 25 million people, is the fourteenth-largest economy globally, and is a middle power. In other words, they are big and we are not. And yet there is one area where the United States invariably looks to Australia to take the lead: the Pacific.

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