Both were adequate and appropriate venues for the Quad. They are also seats of power.
It was not a great look for Australia’s new US ambassador Kevin Rudd, and has taken the gloss off what Albanese had planned to be a triumphant moment.
Compared with other annual global jamborees such as the G20, APEC or ASEAN summits, the Quad is a small, business-like affair involving just four leaders that is over and done with in a day.
There are no “family photos” of leaders, lavish welcoming ceremonies with cultural displays, associated business or ministerial forums, or cities shut down for three days.
It is essentially a short, sharp annual display of joint resolve by the four member nations designed to send a message to China and others in the region, with an associated agenda on climate change and other issues that is little more than window dressing to try to give it actual substance.
Australia, however, couldn’t help itself, and planned to host this year’s summit at the nation’s most recognisable tourist attraction, just in case, perhaps, the visitors forgot which country they were in. Given the event has been cancelled, we’ll never know whether the leaders were to be given koalas to cuddle, or if “G’day″ was to be projected on the Opera House roof.
It reeked of cultural cringe, and continued the tradition of successive governments diminishing the nation’s capital as an embarrassing inconvenience.
Ever since John Howard, prime ministers have largely not bothered even living in Canberra. Julia Gillard was the last to occupy The Lodge on a meaningful basis, rather than just use it as a place to crash when parliament was sitting.
The Quad could easily have been held in Canberra. It has an international airport, good hotels, embassies, a splendid and secure parliament, the city is easier to secure than Sydney, and having the event in the capital would avoid crippling Sydney with motorcades.
Canberra has hosted presidents and monarchs before and was to do so again on Tuesday next week when Joe Biden was to become the first US president since Barack Obama in 2011 to address parliament.
Poorly treated
All of that is moot for now following Biden’s decision on Wednesday to cancel. None of it was the fault of Anthony Albanese, who was poorly treated and left red-faced.
Barely 12 hours before Biden rang Albanese at 4.30am on Wednesday to cancel, Albanese, after being given the green light by the US embassy, issued a glowing statement confirming the Biden visit.
It was not a great look for Australia’s new US ambassador, Kevin Rudd, and has taken the gloss off what Albanese had planned to be a triumphant moment to coincide with his first anniversary in power – spectacular images of him hosting powerful leaders at the Opera House.
Biden had little choice other than to cancel, so he could return to Washington from the G7 in Japan to try to fix the debt ceiling crisis, which is paralysing Congress.
The consequences of a US default would be far worse than those of a cancelled trip to Papua New Guinea on Monday to sign a new defence pact, and a cancelled visit to Australia. He had no choice.
But as the foreign policy establishment has pointed out, the debacle has not only raised questions about America’s commitment to the region, but hung a lantern over the basket case that is US domestic politics.
“China loves any event or controversy which highlights US domestic political dysfunction, especially when it spills over into the execution of foreign policy, as it has here,” said senior fellow for East Asia at the Lowy Institute Richard McGregor.
“While US regional foreign policy won’t change as a result of this debacle, its ability to achieve those aims will suffer, along with its reputation for reliability.”
This is because optics are so important.
Albanese, himself, underscored this by moving heaven and earth to attend last’s year’s Tokyo meeting, just two days after he won the election.
Votes were still being counted and Albanese’s head was still spinning as he flew out on the Monday after the election to be feted by Biden, Narendra Modi and Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, all of whom noted the effort he made to be there.
Event diminished
Biden said Albanese’s trip to Tokyo showed Australia was “all in” on the Quad.
Albanese said in his opening statement: “We have had a change of government in Australia but Australia’s commitment to the Quad has not changed and will not change.”
While the 2023 Quad will now be held in a room on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, this weekend, given all four leaders are attending that anyway, the event is somewhat diminished. Nonetheless, it is important it goes ahead.
Of greater concern to the foreign policy wonks was Biden also having to cancel the trip to PNG on Monday, with Modi, which was to be a practical outcome from the US president’s meeting with Pacific leaders at the White House last year.
Albanese said Biden apologised for the late cancellation and formally offered him a state visit to Washington later this year. State, or official, visits are rare. George W. Bush gave one to Howard in 2006 and Donald Trump afforded one to Scott Morrison in 2019.
They come with all the bells and whistles, including a black-tie dinner, marching bands on the South Lawn of the White House, and being put up in Blair House, rather than a hotel. Which is all very nice but doesn’t make it any clearer when Biden will be able to return to the Pacific.
More so given Biden has promised another Pacific Islands forum this year to make amends, but in Washington.
It is also unclear whether Australia will host the Quad next year, an election year in the US.
If so, it would not just be an opportunity for Biden to make amends.
Barry Humphries once said: “Australia is the Brisbane of the world.”
What better chance to dispel that than ditch the Opera House for the national capital.
Phillip Coorey is The Australian Financial Review’s political editor.