{"id":31506,"date":"2017-04-27T06:00:35","date_gmt":"2017-04-26T20:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=31506"},"modified":"2017-04-27T17:51:19","modified_gmt":"2017-04-27T07:51:19","slug":"smart-stuff-shortwave-south-pacific","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/smart-stuff-shortwave-south-pacific\/","title":{"rendered":"Doing smart stuff with shortwave in the South Pacific"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/span><\/p>\n

Pick the anomaly in this list of what Australia does and desires in the South Pacific:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Australia wants a leadership role in the South Pacific, a fundamental foreign policy interest explicitly stated in 1901 in the Australian Constitution.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Australia\u2019s 2016<\/span> Defence White Paper<\/span><\/a> gives a defence and<\/span> security guarantee<\/span><\/a> that stretches from Timor-Leste through Papua New Guinea to all of the South Pacific. Australia offers its strategic weight, proximity and resources to be the South Pacific\u2019s \u201cprincipal security partner\u201d.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Australia spent about $3 billion to restore order and rebuild the government of<\/span> Solomon Islands<\/span><\/a> over 14 years.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Australia is giving $560 million in aid to<\/span> Papua New Guinea<\/span><\/a>. And Australia\u2019s total aid to<\/span> Pacific Islands<\/span><\/a> this financial year is $1.14 billion.<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. An independent media is an essential element in Australia\u2019s overarching interest in South Pacific states that are free, democratic and growing. Yet, to save $2\u20133 million, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in January<\/span> closed down shortwave broadcasts to the South Pacific<\/span><\/a>, killing off a service with a 75-year history.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Number 5 is the clanger. The ABC Board decision to mute Radio Australia\u2019s (RA) voice in the South Pacific trashes Oz interests.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The ABC exits as the region\u2019s needs increase. The Pacific\u2019s geopolitical potpourri is \u2018crowded and complex\u2019 with implications for \u2018stability, security and cohesion in the region.\u2019 (See the new ASPI report on<\/span> the changing geopolitics of the South Pacific<\/span><\/a> by the ANU\u2019s Joanne Wallis).<\/span><\/p>\n

    My previous column argued that a<\/span> shortwave re-think<\/span><\/a> is the moment to end the ABC\u2019s decade-long shredding of its Island service. A shortwave U-turn should embrace a new Pacific future: time to shift from exit to engagement, from retreat to renewal.<\/span><\/p>\n

    South Pacific Radio<\/b><\/p>\n

    Imagine the South Pacific not as a big ocean with specks of land, but rather visualise and hear a space full of overlapping radio voices with a musical soundtrack. Radio is vital. Radio is a key way the Pacific talks to itself: for example, the campaign to get<\/span> MPs in Solomon Islands<\/span><\/a> to donate<\/span> high-quality radios<\/span><\/a> (solar powered, battery or hand cranked) to their communities. Here are some reasons why the South Pacific shortwave service should be restored:<\/span><\/p>\n