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Is it wise to link Australia's economic and security alliances with the US?

By Daniel Flitton - posted Wednesday, 24 March 2004


You won't get this remarkable conjunction of political and other circumstances that make it within reach.

What exactly are those "other circumstances" Prime Minister?

Well I think certainly the political amity between the US administration and the Australian government was a factor.

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And what led to that "amity", such good relations between the two countries, Mr Howard?

Our principled support for the US-led action in Iraq made a deep impression and will not be readily forgotten by the US. Our relationship has never been stronger or closer.

What of those who feel that Australia has been "dudded" by this so-called free trade deal?

Nothing is perfect in this world, this is not a perfect agreement but it's the best we could get in current circumstances.

And herein lies the problem with the government's position. By linking economics together with security, it talked up the natural progression toward a more mature and profitable Australia-US relationship. The government built high expectations. Yet if people judge that the special relationship between Howard and Bush failed to deliver a respectable outcome in the FTA, what value will Australians continue to put on ANZUS? Won't the same disappointment felt in the economic realm simply translate into the security sphere?

This is not to say that the FTA deal is worthless. Indeed, that verdict awaits the reports of the parliamentary commissions, now busily wading through some 1100 pages of sticky legalese which is the full text of the agreement.

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But perceptions are often more important than reality in politics. Last month the New York Times also made the economic-security connection, criticising the Bush administration for allowing protectionist sentiment to contaminate free trade agreements "even when dealing with an allied nation". A conservative columnist with the Washington Post went even further. "America has no better friend than Australia," he declared, and despite this the administration forced its ally into an unseemly and unhealthy "not-exactly" free trade agreement.

If a general consensus takes hold that Australia got a second-rate trade deal, some will inevitably wonder whether the much-touted military alliance delivers anything more.

This is actually a good debate for Australia. There is nothing inherently dangerous in a careful evaluation of the alliance. Nor is an acknowledgment that dividing the relationship with America into neat, disparate compartments - one economic, the other security - is only academic convenience. But it is certainly not the outcome that the government intended.

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Article edited by Betsy Fysh.
If you'd like to be a volunteer editor too, click here.

This artile was first published in The Canberra Times on 16 March 2004.



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About the Author

Daniel Flitton is a Visiting Research Associate at the Lowy Institute for International Policy and works at the Australian National University, Canberra.

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Free Trade Agreement - Australian perspective
Free Trade Agreement - US perspective
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