Bill Shorten is flagging that Labor would set up a government-backed infrastructure investment bank to promote concessional financing for nation-building projects in the Pacific.
In a speech to the Lowy Institute on Monday – part of which has been released beforehand – Shorten says Australia’s Pacific neighbours want partners for infrastructure projects – “and as prime minister, I
intend to make sure they look to Australia first.
“I see this as a way Australia can elevate our status as a ‘partner-of-choice’ for Pacific development and enhance security and prosperity in the region,” he says.
In government, the ALP would put the Pacific “front and centre” in its regional foreign policy, Shorten says.
It would grow Australia’s aid commitment to the Pacific. But while development assistance is critical “our agenda for engagement needs to be bigger and broader than that”.
“We should be encouraging others, including private firms, to invest in projects that drive development in the region: from roads and ports to water supply, communications technology and energy infrastructure.
“New Zealand are already doing this, the United States and Japan are also exploring their options. Australia should be too.
“My vision is for Australia to actively facilitate concessional loans and financing for investment in these vital, nation-building projects through a government-backed infrastructure investment bank.”
Shorten does not spell out the detail of the proposed bank, which his office said would encompass projects in the wider Indo-Pacific region, but with its main emphasis on the Pacific. Planning appears to be in
its early stages.
In his speech Shorten, stressing the diversity of nations in the Pacific, says a Labor government would engage with these countries “through partnership, not paternalism”.
“We will listen, knowing that for our Pacific neighbours, sustainable development and poverty reduction are more than economic concerns. And
we must strive to understand the socio-cultural dimensions which impact these issues.”
Labor would upgrade the position of minister for Pacific affairs, which has recently been downgraded to an assistant minister. Labor’s minister would coordinate Pacific strategy and programs across
government.
“We will engage with the Pacific not through the intricacies of geopolitics – but in its own right. Our goal will not be the strategic denial of others but rather the economic betterment of the ten million
people of the Pacific islands themselves,” Shorten says.
Criticising Scott Morrison’s decision not to attend the recent Pacific Islands Forum, which was held immediately after he became prime minister, Shorten says this was “part of a pattern of neglect of the
Forum by Coalition prime ministers”.
The opposition leader also argues that Labor is better able than the Coalition to chime in with the Pacific countries’ concerns about climate change.
“No community of nations are more concerned about climate change – with better reason – than our Pacific neighbours. Rising sea levels are an existential threat for these nations, ” he says.
“Under a Labor government, Australia will be much better placed to help our neighbours respond and to press their case internationally because we accept the science of climate change – and we accept the need for real action.”
Morrison repeatedly has given as one reason for resisting the push from the right for Australia to exit the Paris climate agreement that the climate issue is of major concern to Pacific countries which are in turn strategically important to Australia.
POSTSCRIPT: Government takes new hit in Newspoll: ALP leads 54-46%
The government and Prime Minister Scott Morrison have slipped in the latest Newspoll, published in Monday’s Australian.
Labor has widened its two-party lead to 54-46%, compared with 53-47% a
fortnight ago. On primary votes, the Coalition has dropped a point to
36%; Labor has gained a point to 39%. The Greens are down from 11% to
9%.
Morrison’s satisfaction rating has fallen 4 points to 41% while
dissatisfaction with his performance is up 6 points to 44%. This gives
him a net negative rating for the first time.
But he retains a healthy head over Bill Shorten as better prime
minister – 43-35%, although the gap has narrowed from 45-34%.
Satisfaction with Shorten is up 2 points to 37%; his dissatisfaction
rating is 50%, down a point.
The latest results come in the wake of the Liberals’ loss of Wentworth
to independent Kerryn Phelps, which has produced a hung parliament.
Previously Morrison had been clawing back from the government’s
disastrous deterioration in the poll after the removal of Malcolm
Turnbull, but that apparent small improvement has now been set back.
The poll found that 58% want the government to run full term rather
than call an early election.
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By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
TOP IMAGE: (Ellen Smith/AAP/The Conversation)
