Submarines are not security | Between the Lines
The Wrap with Dr Emma Shortis
What Australia does matters.
We tend to think of ourselves as not having much influence or power in the world, but that’s not true. We’ve led the world on many things – including in our contribution to climate change.
While leaders of Commonwealth countries met in Samoa for CHOGM, a new report shines a spotlight on Australia as a global leader in carbon emissions. We’re second only to Russia in emissions from fossil fuel exports – and the Australian government is busy promising the largest pipeline of coal export projects in the world.
Pacific nations are furious at our determination not just to approve new gas and coal mines, but to subsidise their expansion.
In Samoa this week, President of Tuvalu Feleti Teo described fossil fuel expansion as a “death sentence” for his country. He pointed out that the expansion of Australian fossil fuel exports goes against the “spirit” of the Falepili Union between Tuvalu and Australia, which recognises that climate change is an “existential threat”.
But rather than stop opening new coal mines to address that real threat, the Australian government seems determined to pour vast amounts of money into missiles and nuclear-powered submarines. As the President of Timor-Leste José Ramos-Horta wrote, neither of those things will actually make us safer.
And to make things worse, we’re not likely to ever see those submarines, at least not as the deal currently imagines we will.
The United States is highly unlikely to hand over command of any of its existing subs to Australia – not to mention just how unrealistic the plan to design and build a whole new class of them at the same time really is.
AUKUS is not a serious deal. But it could have serious consequences.
Next week, one of our AUKUS partners faces its most important elections in generations. The United States is perched on a knife’s edge in more ways than one, and with the looming possibility of serious political instability or even a second Trump presidency, Australia faces some very serious questions about the future of the US Alliance.
I’ll be travelling to the US this week to bring you all the analysis of the election and what it will mean for Australia and our region. You can follow along with me on Twitter, @EmmaShortis, and by tuning into my podcast After America.
The projection of American democratic instability out into the world isn’t in America’s interests, and its not in ours.
There is more at stake here than simply the credibility of the US as a democracy. Its credibility as “leader of the free world” and the world’s “indispensable nation” is also in doubt.
— Dr Emma Shortis, Senior Researcher at the Australia Institute
A new book from the Australia Institute!
As we near the end of The Australia Institute’s 30th anniversary year, we are delighted to announce an anthology to mark the occasion, What’s the Big Idea: 32 Ideas for a Better Australia.
Bringing together economists, climate scientists, writers and leading experts, these contributions show that the solutions to our problems are at hand, if only we have the courage to implement them.
Featuring:
The Hon Michael Kirby, Yanis Varoufakis, Aunty Pat Anderson, His Excellency Anote Tong, Professor Peter Doherty, Professor Brian Schmidt, Jennifer Robinson, Professor Fiona Stanley, Bob Brown, Sally McManus, Amy Remeikis, and many more leading thinkers including the Australia Institute team.
Secure your copy of this limited edition hardback by ordering today >
The Big Stories
6 key reforms to address Australia’s culture of secrecy
We are sleepwalking towards disaster when we accept the idea that the more secret we are about decision-making, the safer we’ll be.
– Richard Denniss
The Australia Institute’s inaugural Transparency Summit was the nexus between experts, whistleblowers, lawyers and elected officials, laying the foundation for reforming Australia’s secrecy problem.
Key policy proposals included:
- Public hearings in the National Anti-Corruption Commission
- Both protecting and encouraging whistleblowers
- Fixing antiquated secrecy laws and our freedom of information laws
Miles closer: QLD polling shows strong support for key Labor policies
As opinion polls suggest the Steven Miles Labor Government is closing the gap on the Liberal National Opposition ahead of this Saturday’s state election, new research from The Australia Institute reveals most Queenslanders support the ambitious policy platform put forward by the incumbent, including cost of living relief and an increase in royalties charged on coal.
- 81% support 50c public transport fees
- 82% support $1000 electricity bill rebate
- 80% support more funding for school food programs.
- 61% support higher and progressive coal royalties
Regardless of the election result, the message for other state and territory governments is that ambitious and clear policies are popular with the electorate and are a political advantage.
The decline in the major party vote is reshaping Australian politics
Over the past 40 years the share of votes going to independents and minor parties has risen in both state and federal elections.
Last Saturday, the result of the ACT election was a strong one for independents and minor parties, with their combined vote exceeding 32% for only the third time in the territory’s 35-year history of self-government.
We’ve crunched the numbers from all levels of elections in Australia, and they tell a story that our major parties would do well to take notice of.
Top Australian scientists unite in defence of science on Maugean skate
Over 30 scientists have written to Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, asking her to honour her pledge of no new extinctions and take urgent action to protect the endangered Maugean Skate, and immediately halt “catastrophic” salmon farming in Macquarie harbour.
This comes as the salmon industry and some politicians have been seeking to undermine scientific evidence which overwhelmingly finds that open cage salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour is the primary cause of the skate’s demise.
On your bike: Policies to increase rates of active transport
A new report by The Australia Institute shows that less than 1% of federal road funding goes towards infrastructure for active transport like bikes and scooters.
Greater investment in active transport infrastructure is needed to avoid congested, polluted, car-dependent cities in the future.
Our report Proactive investment: Policies to increase rates of active transportation, puts forward practical solutions that are proven to work in other countries, including more funding for building separated bike paths, paying people to cycle to work, and more.
If Commonwealth funding for active transport increased to the equivalent of 10% of road-related expenditure, it would make at least $770 million per year available, a vast improvement on the National Active Transport Fund of $100 million over 4 years.
The real meaning of security | José Ramos-Horta
“Australia places a far greater value on insecurity than on collective peace and prosperity,” writes President José Ramos-Horta of Timor-Leste, who was a guest of the Australia Institute as part of our 30th Anniversary celebrations.
“The Australian government claims to be delivering just over $2.1 billion in total ODA to Pacific Islands countries – including Timor-Leste, with about $123 million – in this financial year. This is not insubstantial. It is best viewed in context, however.
“In the same year, the Australian government is committing $2.6 billion to its famous nuclear submarines. This is roughly the same amount as Timor-Leste’s total annual public expenditure on all government services. Which is a better investment? The mental and physical health and subsequent loyalty of your allies? Or weapons that I hear will not even belong to your country if they are ever built?”
The Win
The NSW parliament has banned no-grounds eviction, made it easier to rent with a pet and capped rent increases to once a year as part of new laws designed to help 2.2 million renters in the state.
With the dream of owning a home increasingly beyond the reach of a growing number of Australians, NSW premier Chris Minns, said renters had been “the forgotten people in NSW for too long and that ends now”.
The Bin
The importation of US culture wars into the Australian political debate is apparent in recent campaigns to criminalise or restrict access to abortion, according to Dr Prudence Flowers, Senior Lecturer in US History at Flinders University.
Abortion is legal in all Australian states and territories, under certain circumstances and when it is done by a registered doctor. Each state and territory has different laws.
The Quote
“To put it plainly, it is a death sentence for Tuvalu if larger nations continue to increase their emission levels.”
Tuvalu’s Prime Minister Feleti Teo chose his words carefully, speaking about the expansion of fossil fuel projects in nations like Australia.
“We will not sit quietly and allow others to determine our fate.”
Podcasts
Secrecy is not security | Follow the Money
Excessive secrecy in government decision-making makes Australia less safe, not more, says Bill Browne on this episode of Follow the Money.
Listen now:
The enemy within | After America
Journalist and author Richard Cooke joins Dr Emma Shortis to discuss hurricane conspiracies, Harris’ “decency coalition” and the threat of post-election violence.
Listen now:
The misery business: why economists should cheer up about low unemployment | Dollars & Sense
Record numbers of Australians are employed – that’s a great thing, despite what the interest rate doomers are telling you, says Greg Jericho on this episode of Dollars & Sense.
Listen now:
What’s On
Unparliamentary with Karen Middleton | 1pm AEDT, Tuesday 29 October
Unpack the big political and policy issues with Karen Middleton, political editor for Guardian Australia.
No Safe Seats: What does the declining major party vote mean for Australian elections? | 11am AEDT, Thursday 31 October
In this edition of Policy School, the Australia Institute’s Executive Director Richard Denniss and Democracy & Accountability Director Bill Browne explain what the data shows about changing voting patterns, democratic participation and the role of parties and independents in Australian democracy.
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