Coronavirus has exposed Australia’s double standards, quasi-colonial outlook
- Canberra’s muted reaction to the discovery of a new Covid-19 variant in the UK stands in stark contrast to its ban on travellers from China in February 2020
- It also reveals the unacknowledged racism that still lingers at the core of Australian policy decision making, says Daryl Guppy
This double standard could be explained away in political terms. China is considered unfriendly, so for many in the Australian media, much of what China does is seen as part of a dark security conspiracy.
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Despite this new variant being highly infectious, Australia has still not banned travellers from Britain – a full month after the UK health secretary finally acknowledged the strain’s existence.
Indeed, it was only last week that the Australian national cabinet belatedly decided to impose preflight coronavirus testing on passengers coming from the UK.
Australia now has an increasing number of cases of the UK Covid-19 variant, some of which are contained in quarantine facilities for returning travellers.
At least two infections are in the community, however, and triggered a three-day lockdown of Brisbane, Queensland’s capital. Few have questioned the efficacy of so short a lockdown to control a virus that has a 10- to 14-day incubation period.
And throughout the year, Australian citizens, residents and their immediate family members have been able to arrive in the country from Britain, despite its surging infection rates.
The restrictions on those travellers coming from mainland China, however, have continued all through 2020, and are yet to be lifted.
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Australia ditched diplomacy for ‘adversarial approach’ to China and ‘a pat on the head’ from US
For a brief time before the turn of the millennium, under former prime ministers Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, Australia’s foreign policy moved towards the country’s integration with Asia as an equal partner.
Infamously, and with no hint of hubris, former Prime Minister John Howard accepted then-US President George W Bush’s description in 2003 of Australia as a “sheriff” of Asia.
By 2018, the language of a Western rules-based global order and the denial of governance legitimacy to those who did not uphold democratic ideals began to pervade discussions by former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, and more recently Australia’s Defence Minister Linda Reynolds.
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This anachronistic outlook is also reflected in the country’s increasing tendency to scold others in the region and tell them what they must do.
These unconscious features of Australia’s strategic policy approach to Asia and the specifics of its policy action, such as the refusal to ban UK travellers, reflect this outlook.
Certainly officers of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade do not see themselves in a quasi-colonial role, but such is often the real impact of the country’s policy decisions.
Despite what Australia proclaims, for many in the region, it is clear that unacknowledged racism still lingers at the core of Australian policy decision making. The UK Covid-19 variant has tested Australia’s foreign policy integrity in Asia, and the country has been found wanting.
Daryl Guppy is a financial market and political analyst based in Australia and working in China and Singapore. Author of many books, he provides China engagement support for government and companies. He serves on the Australia China Business Council and the Silk Road Chamber of International Commerce. The views expressed here are the author’s own.