Yahoo Movies Scott Morrison accused of 'pandering' to Trump and damaging relations with Biden
The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, put his personal affinity with Donald Trump ahead of the national interest, damaging relations with the incoming Biden-Harris Democratic team, the Labor opposition party says.
In a speech ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration as the 46th president of the United States, the Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, has taken aim at Morrison’s handling of the alliance and key challenges including climate change.
Albanese warns the Biden administration’s climate policy will leave Australia “totally isolated” on the world stage and calls for Morrison to re-engage with multilateral cooperation after “pandering” to Trump with rhetoric about “negative globalism”.
Morrison has attempted to distance himself from Trump in recent days, indirectly condemning his role encouraging the US Capitol mob and on Tuesday insisting he has “no plans” to speak to Trump as he leaves office.
In a speech to be delivered to the US-Asia Centre in Perth on Wednesday, Albanese notes that Morrison refused to condemn Trump earlier in January.
Albanese, in a written copy of the speech, argues Morrison “went too far” in cultivating the US president “partly out of his affinity with Donald Trump, partly because of the political constituency they share”.
Albanese cites sharing “a campaign rally stage with Donald Trump in Ohio” and neglecting “to meet with any senior Democrats over a week-long visit to the United States” in 2019 as evidence.
On that trip, Morrison also praised Trump’s political priorities, stating that the pair “share a lot of the same views”.
In January, Morrison defended the right of Coalition MPs to “freedom of speech”, refusing to contradict conspiracy theories espoused by some in government ranks that Biden benefited from “dodgy” votes.
Albanese says Morrison “remains afraid of the far-right extremist fringe dwellers who make up the bedrock of [Trump’s] personal support – and who he cultivates through the avatars of Trumpists and conspiracy theorists like Craig Kelly and George Christensen”.
“Mr Morrison wants to ride this tiger because he thinks he’s on a political winner – but we have seen this month that the longer you ride it, the harder it is to dismount.”
On Tuesday, Albanese criticised Morrison for accepting the legion of merit, the US’s highest military honour, from Trump. He described the move as “rather bizarre”.
In the speech, Albanese says the start of the Biden administration “presents an opportunity to expand alliance cooperation” on challenges including engagement with China and climate change.
Albanese argues that Morrison’s “stubborn resistance to joining the global consensus on climate change” – an apparent reference to the government’s refusal to adopt a net zero by 2050 target – will isolate Australia, “create tension in our alliance and damage our interests”.
“Labor’s position on climate change shares much with that of the Biden team and we are well-positioned to cooperate closely with the US and the many other key allies and partners who take climate change seriously,” he says, citing Biden’s intention to rejoin the Paris agreement.
Under Trump, the US retreated from “its historical role as the leader of the post-war international order” but Biden seems more interested in working collaboratively with US allies and returning to its position as the “indispensable power”.
Albanese praises Biden’s acknowledgement of the “imperative of strategic engagement and leadership in the Indo-Pacific region” and notes his “strong commitment to climate change action will be warmly welcomed in the Pacific”.
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Albanese says that “strategic competition” between the US and China will continue, given Xi Jinping “increasingly seeks to assert [China’s] growing power, even when that contravenes accepted and agreed international rules”.
The Labor leader calls on Biden to set a “clearer definition around the terms of future US-China competition”. “This should allow the US and its allies to defend clear red lines but also enable co-existence.”
Albanese accuses Morrison of a “dereliction of duty” for failing to intervene as the US struck its phase one trade deal with China. Because the Trump administration was blind to the risk that Australian exporters would lose market share to US competitors due to China’s protectionism, American exporters have gained market share in meat, wine and timber at Australia’s expense, he argues.
On Wednesday, Morrison said the US-Australia alliance was “the most important relationship we have, and if people are going to have a crack at me because I worked with the president of the United States, I think that reflects more on them than me”.
Morrison told 2GB Radio it was “really disappointing” the events at the US Capitol had detracted from the Trump administration’s legacy.
“It’s been very disturbing what we’ve seen particularly around Capitol Hill.
“But it had been a year full of violence, you know, in many ways last year in the United States. And I’m confident about America ... [they’ll] bounce back, they’ll overcome this.”
On Tuesday, Morrison said he had spoken to the outgoing vice-president, Mike Pence, after a call with the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, a day earlier, to discuss the US-Australia alliance and the transition of power.
“I welcome the fact that despite all the terrible things we’ve seen happen, there has been that positive engagement between them and those who are coming in after them,” he told reporters in Quilpie. “There is a handover.”
Morrison said as prime minister he was a “steward” of the “very important relationship between Australia and the US” and Biden would “join [him] in that stewardship”.
Asked about the Biden administration’s stance toward Australia and China, Morrison replied he expected “there would be a continuation of those policy settings that have so favoured the Australian alliance”.
