Peter Hendy (Eden-Monaro, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am rising today to make brief comments on some foreign policy issues. This week the Prime Minister returned from what I regard as a highly successful overseas trip, involving visits to Indonesia, Europe, Canada and the United States.

The first duty of any Australian government is to secure its borders and that means ensuring strong defence capabilities and maintaining strong, constructive and stable international relations. The trip began with a visit to Batam Island to meet the Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The last government left Australia with a legacy of distrust vis-a-vie our relationship with Indonesia. The live-cattle export-ban fiasco was the icon issue. However, there were other problems as well and the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister have had to do a lot of fence mending so that our relationship with our near neighbour can get back onto an even keel. That was done in spades at this recent meeting, and the Prime Minister has gone a long way to getting it back on track.

From that series of meetings, the Prime Minister travelled to Europe to participate in the anniversary celebrations for the D-day landings of 6 June 1944. Some 2,500 Australians, mostly airmen, participated in that watershed event and 18 paid the ultimate sacrifice. The commemoration of the allies' triumph on D-day is also a significant part of Australia's history and the part we played in defeating Nazi and other fascist aggressors in the Second World War.

The Prime Minister also took the opportunity to visit and pay respects at the grave sites related to the terrible battles of the Somme and the last days of World War I near Villers-Bretonneux. A number of years ago I also visited Villers-Bretonneux and attended the magnificent but tremendously sad Australian war memorial, near the town. While in France, the Prime Minister was able to have important meetings with the President of France, Francois Hollande; the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel; and the Prime Minister of Great Britain, David Cameron. They are the three principal leaders of the European Union which, taken as a whole, is our biggest trading partner and the cultural beacon for the overwhelming majority of the Australian population.

From there, the Prime Minister had very warm and constructive meetings in Canada with its Prime Minister, Stephen Harper. Amongst other things, Prime Minister Harper praised the Australian government's policy of abolishing the carbon tax. In the United States the Prime Minister's trip was a triumph. Not only did he have meetings with President Obama and other senior figures in the administration—such as Treasury secretary, Jacob Lew, and Defence Secretary, Chuck Hagel—but also he met key congressional leaders. For example, he met the two most senior Democrat and Republican senators, respectively—Senator Harry Reid and Senator Mitch McConnell. He also met the two principal leaders of the US House of Representatives—Speaker John Boehner and Democrat Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi. He also met the Federal Reserve chair, Janet Yellen, and the IMF managing director, Christine Lagarde.

The meetings with the President were very important and ranged over trade, defence, intelligence and energy-efficiency issues. The US complimented the Australian government on increased Defence spending in the recent budget and Australia reiterated its support for the US's ongoing 'pivot' to the Asia-Pacific. The issue of China was raised. As the Prime Minister has said, we must welcome China's economic success. However, as I have previously noted, Australia must not resile from condemning any unilateral actions that jeopardise peaceful resolution of territorial disputes in the South China Sea and the East China Sea.

Equally, the talks covered the aggressive behaviour of Russia in the Ukraine. Again, this is an area where unilateral action has not been conducive to regional security. The Prime Minister also discussed recent developments in Iraq, where Sunni militants are posing an increasing threat to regional security in the Middle-East. The President has said that barring putting troops on the ground no other options are off the table. The Prime Minister has noted that as a strong ally Australia is in close consultation with our US partners. Let us hope that military action can be avoided.

Deputy Speaker, this burgeoning crisis simply highlights the importance of our strategic alliances and Australia's engagement in key world events, not least through our membership of the UN Security Council. It shows the Australian people that Defence and international relations are in safe and sure hands.

Debate interrupted.

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