{"id":5933,"date":"2013-05-03T12:31:06","date_gmt":"2013-05-03T02:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=5933"},"modified":"2013-05-05T22:49:14","modified_gmt":"2013-05-05T12:49:14","slug":"just-being-a-good-local-cop-isnt-easy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/just-being-a-good-local-cop-isnt-easy\/","title":{"rendered":"Just being a \u2018good local cop\u2019 isn\u2019t easy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HMAS<\/a>Today\u2019s Defence White Paper<\/a> confirms an increasing focus on the security, stability and cohesion of Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and the South Pacific states.<\/p>\n

Minister Smith signalled Government\u2019s intent to \u2018bring our own immediate neighborhood back into sharp focus<\/a>\u2019 by appearing at yesterday\u2019s inaugural South Pacific Defence Ministers meeting in Tonga.<\/p>\n

A decade after the invasion of Iraq, the ten year-anniversary of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) in July will mark a less contentious but equally significant juncture in Australian strategic policy. Smith has indicated Government\u2019s keen to avoid further \u2018commitments to distant land-based operations<\/a>\u2019. Instead, we want to focus on closer enmeshment with South East Asian defence partners and helping to promote security in the South Pacific\u2014especially the nearby, relatively large, populous and sometimes volatile states of Melanesia.<\/p>\n

Yesterday\u2019s meeting in Tonga gave some substance to these closer ties at a time when the ADF has actually just departed Timor-Leste and will shortly wind-up operations in Solomon Islands. Recognising the continuing potential for conflict in our shared backyard, the Joint Communique<\/a> by the Australian, NZ, PNG and Tongan Defence Ministers commits to a range of useful initiatives to strengthen interoperability, information sharing, disaster relief, maritime security, and joint exercises.<\/p>\n

\u2018Focusing close to home\u2019 mainly reflects enduring interests in our immediate region, and assessments that recent stabilisation missions are unlikely to be our last. It\u2019s also intended to deliver a post-Afghanistan peace dividend<\/a> and avoid being all about China. Credible regional contingencies offer a useful basis for prioritising long-term force development (taking us \u2018back to the future\u2019 when pre-9\/11 defence self-reliance<\/em> meant being able to independently<\/em> close the sea-air gap and stabilise regional hotspots rather than deter a far-off power). But the focus also responds to China\u2019s growing regional presence, which complicates our strategic calculus even when Beijing isn\u2019t deliberately poking us in the eye (for example when it sold Timor-Leste two patrol boats for mainly commercial reasons<\/a> in 2008). A more active regional role could also help avoid a repeat of the ADF\u2019s directionless period after Vietnam.<\/p>\n

But while this attention to fostering security in our near neighbourhood seems warranted, it can be as difficult as it is important. And it\u2019s been getting harder as our partners perceive new options for meeting familiar, deepening, challenges in a more competitive international setting. Although it\u2019s far from clear our influence is declining<\/a>, it\u2019s equally uncertain whether our growing inclination to exercise leadership will be matched by neighbours\u2019 readiness to offer what Graeme Dobell calls \u2018followship<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n

Strong economic growth has enabled Timor-Leste to take an assertive stance over our disputed maritime boundaries<\/a> and to refuse to accept a regional asylum processing centre<\/a> in 2010 for example. And Chinese diplomatic support, new avenues for borrowing funds, and access to untied aid have afforded Fiji\u2019s military dictatorship at least temporary breathing space<\/a> in its quarrel with the region.<\/p>\n

Militarily, our different histories and circumstances (we spend 250 times as much<\/a> on defence as PNG) mean we have some\u00a0different security perspectives and imperatives<\/a> to even our most trusted partners, whose priorities focus on internal security. And what Greg Sheridan criticises as the White Paper\u2019s settling for being a \u2018good local cop but that\u2019s all<\/a>\u2019 can be much harder than it sounds. Even a permissive, multinational intervention could soak up a lot of battalions and demand significant lift, organisation, and sustainment to address a major breakdown in the challenging physical and human geography of any Melanesian country. Intractable cross-cutting challenges<\/a>\u2014such as population pressure, environmental degradation, poverty, and maladministration\u2014complicate security issues too. And even where strong growth\u2019s occurring, it\u2019s off a low base, unevenly spread, vulnerable to commodity price and investment fluctuations (PNG won\u2019t enjoy significant LNG revenue<\/a> until 2018), and can exacerbate social tensions (as could reoccur in Bougainville<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\n

We\u2019ll need to do more than allocate some additional resources if we want our near neighbours to welcome our extra attention and go along with our desire to lead. Making the most of our renewed focus will depend on innovative approaches to marshalling all our national levers and influence as well as honing genuinely expeditionary<\/a> joint amphibious capabilities and defence partnerships.<\/p>\n

Reviving our commitment to Pacific policing; deepening the conversation between Pacific scholars and security policy planners; reinvigorating efforts to promote regional economic growth; updating national coordination mechanisms; developing new tools to maximise Australia\u2019s underutilised soft power and revitalising our relationship with the Pacific Forum, will all be equally important to maximise the value of our renewed focus.<\/p>\n

These issues will be with us for some time to come. I\u2019ll expand on these themes in a forthcoming ASPI Insight publication, and Sam Bateman, Anthony Bergin and Hayley Channer will shortly publish an ASPI Strategy on the future of Australia\u2019s Defence engagement in the region.<\/p>\n

Karl Claxton is an analyst at ASPI. Image courtesy of\u00a0Defence<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s Defence White Paper confirms an increasing focus on the security, stability and cohesion of Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and the South Pacific states. Minister Smith signalled Government\u2019s intent to \u2018bring our own immediate neighborhood …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-defence-white-paper-2013"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nJust being a \u2018good local cop\u2019 isn\u2019t easy | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/just-being-a-good-local-cop-isnt-easy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Just being a \u2018good local cop\u2019 isn\u2019t easy | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today\u2019s Defence White Paper confirms an increasing focus on the security, stability and cohesion of Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and the South Pacific states. 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