Anthony Albanese has never been consumed by foreign affairs.
asserted
Albanese → consume → affairs
He does not appear particularly curious in the grand architecture of international relations.
asserted
He → appear → relations
But he does like making influential friends.
asserted
he → like → friends
He loves sitting down with other leaders, finding common ground or passions and building relationships that might be useful later.
uncertain
that → love → relationships
In a world where Australia has little capacity to impose its will, that is not nothing.
asserted
that → have → will
His week in New York has brought that into a sharper focus.
asserted
week → bring → focus
He argued the international order is under great strain that superpowers are increasingly prepared to bend or ignore its rules, and that countries such as Australia need to work with other middle powers to stop the system collapsing into one governed by power alone.
asserted
system → argue → power
The political problem is that the more Albanese engages with the world, the more carefully he must explain why he is doing it.
asserted
he → engage → it
There is a fine line between an Australian prime minister using international relationships to advance the national interest and one who appears to be spending too much time overseas while Australians are struggling with the cost of living.
asserted
Australians → be → living
Albanese over the next few months he will travel to a G20 in Florida, potentially a Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Antigua and Barbuda, APEC in Shenzhen, a “G’day Namaste” event in Chennai plus COP Climate trips.
asserted
he → travel → Chennai
And waiting for him on the other side is One Nation’s Pauline Hanson, who understands something populists everywhere understand.
asserted
populists → wait → something
That complicated problems are politically useful precisely because they can be made simple.
asserted
they → make → ?
The UN has become a globalist plot.
asserted
UN → become → ?
International agreements have become a surrender of sovereignty and climate pacts are men in suits in far-off lands telling Australians how to live.
asserted
pacts → become → Australians
The government’s efforts to tackle the algorithm are now a plot to curb speech and political association.
asserted
efforts → tackle → speech
You do not need to engage in nuance.
asserted
You → need → nuance
You ask why the prime minister is in New York when people at home are struggling to pay their bills?
asserted
people → ask → bills
That is the populist challenge Albanese and many of his fellow leaders across the West, in particular, face.
asserted
Albanese → face → West
Albanese cannot defeat it merely by saying the UN is important.
asserted
UN → defeat → it
He will have to explain why it matters to Australians.
asserted
it → have → Australians
There’s no doubt that the international order was never perfect, but for decades it provided a framework in which countries could at least argue about the rules.
uncertain
countries → ’ → rules
It has ensured relative peace and held the world back from the brink on more than one occasion.
asserted
It → ensure → occasion
Russia shattered the principle of territorial sovereignty in Europe in 2014 when it annexed Crimea and – with next to no consequence – went back for more in 2022.
asserted
it → shatter → 2022
China and the United States are locked in strategic competition.
asserted
China → lock → competition
Donald Trump’s America has shown diminishing patience with many of the institutions and alliances that underpinned the postwar system.
asserted
that → show → system
Beijing’s assertiveness in our backyard frightens the hell out of many.
asserted
assertiveness → frighten → many
Trump’s war in the Middle East sent our fuel prices higher and trade wars have hit Australian exporters and consumers.
asserted
wars → send → exporters
The revelation of an AI agent gaining access to an Australian government Medicare system gave the argument an immediate local dimension.
asserted
agent → gain → dimension
Suddenly, an esoteric debate about AI safety had found its way into one of the most familiar institutions in Australian life.
asserted
debate → find → life
This is where Albanese’s international agenda has substance.
asserted
agenda → have → substance
He was not simply collecting selfies for his Instagram, he was trying to build co-operation around problems that will eventually land on Australian soil.
asserted
that → collect → soil
But the substance is not enough, he must prosecute the case again and again.
asserted
he → prosecute → case
He spends months building a policy or diplomatic initiative and then muddles the moment it arrives.
asserted
it → spend → policy
A critic will find a simpler line and the government ends up explaining itself rather than making the case.
asserted
government → find → case
Hanson does not need to win the argument about the UN in all its complexity.
asserted
Hanson → need → complexity
She needs to make Australians feel Albanese is worrying about the wrong things.
asserted
Albanese → need → things
Inflation and increased economic insecurity has ensured there’s already a constituency asking why the prime minister is travelling so much.
asserted
minister → ensure → ?
Why he is meeting foreign leaders?
asserted
he → meet → leaders
Why taxpayers should care about an institution in New York when household budgets are under pressure?
asserted
budgets → care → pressure
They are not inherently unreasonable questions but the danger is allowing the answers to be dictated by the lowest common denominator.
asserted
answers → allow → denominator
…and 7 more, not listed.
The Aporia
