analysis
Scott Morrison US visit: Why Morrison’s US trip comes at a crucial and historic moment in time

When “the little digger” – Australia’s seventh Prime Minister - Billy Hughes arrived in Washington for a meeting with then US President Woodrow Wilson in May 1918 it was the first time Australia had been received by an American leader in our own right. As part of Britain’s empire, prior to World War I the powerful America had very little need to engage directly with a leader from the land Down Under. “Australia and America’s relationship is really founded in our shared war-time experiences,” ANU Professor of International Security & Intelligence Studies John Blaxland tells the Sunday Times. Hughes, known for his fiery temperament and abrasive demeanour, was not easily liked by other world leaders or his colleagues and certainly not by the Statesman, former president of Princeton University, Wilson. Hughes stopped in the US on his way to a meeting of the Imperial War Cabinet and Imperial War Conference in London and he was there on a mission. He wanted to convince Wilson that Australia should retain the former German territory of New Guinea at the end of the war, but Wilson remained unmoved. For Scott Morrison about to jet to Washington DC for his second visit as PM to the Land of The Free, he too is there on a mission. The major rite of passage for all Australian Prime Ministers is ensuring Australia remains of importance to the United States, even when its global power wanes. Morrison wants to do just that and make sure - despite being from opposite ends of the political spectrum - that he and Biden can have the same level of fond relationship he did with Trump. Announcing the historic AUKUS alliance between the US, UK and Australia last week Morrison described it as a “forever partnership”. While the US and UK have their “special relationship” the “forever partnership” line may be one we hear more from the PM when describing the United States. And like his visit in 2019 with President Donald Trump, military and security ties will be at the core of progressing the “forever partnership”. Two years ago Morrison gifted Trump a bronze statuette of Corporal Leslie “Bull” Allen carrying a wounded American off the battlefield in Papua New Guinea as a symbol of the indelible bonds that tie Australia and the US together. The inscription on the statue reads: “to symbolise the enduring mateship between the peoples of Australia and the United States of America, September 2019.” His gift for Biden, which the PM has been heavily involved in choosing, will likely be of equal military importance, given the latest ties that join the US, UK and Australia. The visit comes amid a tricky time domestically for Morrison given Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne are still in lockdown and experiencing COVID outbreaks. And it comes after he got special provisions to be able to dash to Sydney to spend Father’s Day with his family while a large proportion of the rest of the country remained separated from their loved ones. In September 2019 when Morrison was hosted by Trump for an official State Visit - the first since Morrison’s mentor John Howard in 2006 - Morrison laid on the praise of the US thick while the red carpet was rolled out. “There are many larger, I suppose, more powerful friends that America has. But they know they do not have a more sure and steadfast friend than Australia so I’m looking forward to spending time with our American friends over the next few days and celebrating our tremendous relationship,” Morrison said at the time as he stepped off the plane at Andrews Airbase outside of Washington DC. The Quad - an alliance between the US, Australia, Japan and India - is of strategic importance for Australia and our region from a security standpoint but crucially this week’s meeting will be of equal importance for trade. And Howard - who had a very strong relationship with the US and visited eight times over his 11-years in office - thinks Morrison will continue his legacy of bolstering ties between our two nations. And despite Biden and Morrison holding different political stripes, the relationship is more than that Howard told The Sunday times exclusively. “These visits are always important because of the close links between our two nations and our security interdependence. The Australian-US relationship completely transcends any party political divisions,” Howard said from Sydney yesterday. “My close friendship with President George W. Bush was well known. I also enjoyed a very easy and productive relationship with his Democratic predecessor, Bill Clinton. “The recent announcement of a partnership between the United States, Britain and Australia, which will deliver Nuclear Powered Submarines for Australia, emphasises both the closeness of our relationship with the US and how critical that relationship is to our future security.” Insiders told The Sunday Times WA will also be high on the agenda in terms of progressing resources deals including critical minerals and hydrogen partnerships. But like the initial between Hughes and Wilson in 1918 there may also be points of tension between Morrison and Biden. Namely on climate. Australia is yet to commit to net zero emissions by 2050 and the Biden Administration has made it clear they want to have strong action on climate change in a 180 from the previous Trump Presidency. “On climate the tension there may even have parallels between Whitlam and Nixon’s meeting in 1973,” Blaxland said. In that meeting US President Richard Nixon and his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger were said to be “furious” with the Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam who had publicly lambasted the US for bombing Hanoi in order to end the Vietnam War. “Morrison will likely attempt to placate these differences and remain diplomatic,” Blaxland offered. Morrison is said to be relatively at ease over how to get the most out of his meeting with Biden. The PM is now the longest-serving leader in the region along with Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo. “He tamed Trump,” one insider said. Solidifying the relationship between Australia and the US has been a test for Australia’s Prime Ministers. The father of the modern Liberal party Sir Robert Menzies - Australia’s longest serving Prime Minister - visited the US a record 14 times as Australia’s leader over his two stints as PM. When President John. F. Kennedy met with Menzies in 1961 and discussed the Laos crisis, Kennedy knew of Australia’s importance. Highlighting the defence and security ties that bond, the assassinated JFK served in the South Pacific and so had an appreciation of Australia as a key ally. When Julia Gillard gave a historic address to a joint session of congress at the invitation of Barack Obama, the world noticed. She was only the third Australian PM to be given the honour behind Bob Hawke and Howard. As she spoke she choked back tears telling the 112th US Congress of the way she marvelled as a child at the Moon walk. “On that great day I believed America could do anything. I believe that still,” she said at the end of the half-hour address. When Paul Keating met Bill Clinton in the White House in September 1993 it marked a new era in Australia-US relations and it also resulted in America’s tilt towards Asia and the Indo-Pacific. The meeting between the two leaders from left leaning politics - Keating a Labor PM and Clinton a Democratic President - was the first since Ben Chifley met Harry Truman in May 1946. And the Keating meeting, much like Morrison’s mission now, was aimed at ensuring that the first APEC leaders’ meeting was a success. Morrison’s trip, while the world still is gripped by the COVID-19 pandemic, is significant. If the meeting of the Quad goes smoothly, Morrison will also be seen to have won. And it will be a strong signal to China that Australia and America have key allies in the region in Japan and India. Morrison will meet with Biden on Wednesday morning Australian time (Tuesday US time) for their first one-on-one before commemorating the 70th anniversary of the ANZUS treaty and having dinner at the White House with Biden and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The dynamics between the two will be watched closely by all around the world. Particularly after a perceived lapse by Biden last week when political watchers suggested he forgot Morrison’s name while announcing AUKUS. “Thank you Boris and I, ah, want to thank that fellow Down Under,” President Biden said at the opening of his remarks. The President eventually said Morrison’s name but only after he looked at his notes. During Morrison’s State Visit the dynamics between Trump and Morrison were emblematic of Bush and Howard. There was familiarity and comfortability and the pair even took candid pictures together while stealing away a brief moment during the State Dinner. In their one-on-one meeting in the Oval Office media were invited for what was supposed to be a quick picture opportunity. But Trump took questions from the Australian media, turning it into an hour-long press conference. Another historic aspect of Morrison’s trip will be Morrison’s meeting with Kamala Harris - the first female Vice President of the United States and the first person of colour to hold the role. The meeting between Harris and the PM will actually come before he meets directly with Biden. Harris will host a breakfast reception for Quad leaders on the PM’s first morning in town. Morrison, who has been plagued with issues surrounding the treatment of women in the Australian Parliament following revelations Brittany Higgins was allegedly raped just metres from the PMs office in Parliament House, will have to put his best foot forward on how he is supporting women and gender equality. Harris is a champion of gender rights and a symbol for many that the glass ceiling can be broken. The PM will meet with Congress leaders - including another fierce woman in US politics House Speaker Nancy Pelosi - and the heads of important intelligence and defence committees. And he will meet with the heads of major financial institutions - including the World Bank The schedule is crammed to maximise less than five full days on the ground. There will be no doubt Morrison, with an election around the corner, will be wondering if this will be his last trip to the US as Australia’s leader. As the COVID vaccine rollout and response increasingly falters, Morrison’s standing in opinion polls continues to slide. Labor leader Anthony Albanese will no doubt be eying off if he may be the next PM to be received by a US President. Morrison needs to make the relationship with Biden work despite their political stripes, or some may see a positive in Albanese and Biden teaming up in a duo harking back to Keating.

analysisScott Morrison US visit: Why Morrison’s US trip comes at a crucial and historic moment in time

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analysis
Scott Morrison US visit: Why Morrison’s US trip comes at a crucial and historic moment in time