Prime Minister Scott Morrison has brought out the big guns in his fight to swing the Nationals into supporting a 2050 net-zero commitment ahead of the Glasgow climate change summit — the “national security” card.
He made the comments in a Coalition partyroom meeting, arguing that not signing up to the target would have implications for Australia’s role in the alliance with the United States and the United Kingdom.
Bringing up national security to garner support isn’t new. While it may be framing the election with key partnerships such as AUKUS and the Quad, national security has been mentioned nearly 2000 times in the current Parliament. And not every security push carries the same weight — or serves the same purpose for the government.
Needles in strawberries
When needles appeared in strawberries across the country in 2018, it was soon deemed a national security risk by the government. Then attorney-general Christian Porter strengthened laws around the contamination of goods, increasing the penalty to 15 years and adding a clause to an espionage and foreign interference bill to cover food.
Freedom of information rejections
Refusals for FOI requests are at an all-time high under the Coalition government. In 2019 FOI staff levels were slashed, delays increased and complaints hit record numbers. One reason a request can be refused is if the information is deemed to be “in the national security” — a vague excuse to stop embarrassing information from reaching the public.
Reporters Without Borders found Australia’s “draconian” legislation around terrorism and national security was a key factor in its slide down the World Press Freedom Index.
Anti-encryption
In June drug charges were laid against 224 Australians after an international drug bust. US officials had created an encrypted messaging app to catch criminals. Morrison was quick to use the incident to push for a national security bill to be passed into law, arguing “future threats” to the public could be prevented only by allowing law enforcement agencies the ability to commandeer social media accounts.
It’s part of three bills before Parliament, two of which would increase police surveillance powers and which experts and politicians have criticised as an infringement on the freedoms of Australians.
COVID-19
The states’ extended lockdowns have been a key complaint of the Morrison government (not that the states are listening). In June, an emergency meeting of the national security committee took place to address the spread of COVID-19.
On the flip side of this, Morrison has been criticised for abandoning national security by not securing enough vaccines early on in the pandemic, though state and federal emergency powers were enacted throughout the crisis in the name of national security.
Domestic violence
2019 was one of the first times domestic violence was mentioned by the Coalition as a national security issue, and Morrison pledged to treat the crisis seriously. It was raised in conjunction with national defence, deterring terrorists and organised crime. Morrison noted the prevalence of violence against women within Australia and the huge impact it has on society.
Climate change?
Both the US and Australian militaries have been warning that climate change is a national security issue — but not for the reasons mentioned by Morrison.
Rising sea levels will not only destroy navy ports and shipyards across the world — altering global strategic maps — but will cause instability in Australia’s neighbours. South-East Asia is at risk of climate-induced famine, extreme weather events and mass migration, with an average of 21.5 million people forced to move due to the impacts of extreme weather since 2008.
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute warns the government has overlooked these risks.
“Food insecurity, population displacement and humanitarian disasters … will greatly test our national capacities, commitments and resilience,” a report notes.
If climate change is the greatest threat to us and our region, the Australian Defence Forces could be repurposed as the Australian Disaster Response Forces. With the primary role becoming Response rather than Defence, it would serve our entire region as well as Australia itself. When Indonesia’s President Yudhoyono thanked Australia for its efforts to help the victims of the Boxing Day tsunami, he earned respect from right across Australia, and drew respect for the ADF from around the world. It is easy to see our military as rescuers from threat, after all.
Good point RC, but with predictions of up to a billion people on the move in Asia due to climate change in the next 50 years, I wouldn’t get rid of defence capability. And of course the ADF wouldn’t anyway. Interesting to note that the genius libs were able to squander all that good will within just a few short years and they’re right back to hating our guts as normal.
Really. The endless enumeration of the incompetence and corruption f this government has got as tedious as the past 18 months of reporting on the pandemic.
Instead, answer the question: In over 8 years in government, identify one good thing this government has done for Australian society. There isn’t any.
On “National Security’, that has come to mean security of information not public that simply corroborates the public evidence of incompetence, corruption and secrecy.
The one good thing they did was to behave like socialists during the initial national lockdown in 2020 with Jobkeeper & Jobseeker. Especially the latter which was increased to a more realistic figure for basic survival for the genuine strugglers. Of course it was never going to last…
Exclude Jobkeeper from that. That was just a payout to the Lib Corporate Sponsors!
Indeed- Jobkeeper need an ICAC inquiry as it seems very suspicious! Were Treasury officials pressured, was there collusion with business groups?????????????????? It was only $13 billion!!
Through gritted teeth and only after sustained pressure from unexpected sources.
Should we be glad of such small mercies?
They were careful to pass the legislation to exclude universities from support.
You’d almost think they were using it as an excuse to degrade and destroy anything that might help people do their own thinking.
Purely coincidental.
Like a drive-by shooting.
Or that favourite of John Lyon, “targetted assassination”?
National security is now about security for the Nationals.
How many Cinderellas would there be if Scotty FM’s “national security”” was a slipper size?
He being Prince Harming?
I can easily see Spud cutting his feet in desperation to fit into Smoko’s glass slippers.
National Security is Scotty’s Go To whenever he wants to evade scrutiny.