Worth reflecting on some of the lessons for Australian diplomacy from this episode. Thread 👇🏼
1. This was a solid achievement for Australian diplomacy: the resolution was adopted by consensus and had 137 co-sponsors. https://twitter.com/smh/status/1262730333121888257
2. This success was due largely to the common-sense nature of our proposition: that an international investigation into the causes and spread of COVID-19 was warranted, given it has caused >300,000 deaths and economic disruption on the scale of the Great Depression.
3. There were many - including in Australia - who claimed we were isolated in our calls for an international investigation. The resolution speaks otherwise: it had 137 co-sponsors, including Japan, India, Russia, China, EU members, most of Africa, and passed unanimously.
4. There were those who argued we should’ve have secured agreement in private before going public with the proposal. This misunderstands how diplomacy works: public and private tracks need to be pursued in parallel, not in sequence.
5. Finally, there were those who claimed to support the idea in principle but were opposed to Australia leading discussion on it. I’ve never had much time for this “small Australia” mindset: if we are not prepared to stand up for our own interests, then who will be?
6. Curiously, these are the same people who usually demand a more “independent” foreign policy from Australia, more “creative middle power diplomacy”, and more multilateralism. Well, this ticks all those boxes.
7. Using multilateral institutions like the WHO to secure national interest outcomes is exactly the sort of “positive and practical globalism” the PM spoke of in his Lowy speech last year — “pragmatic international engagement, based on the cooperation of sovereign states”.
8. Ensuring effective implementation of the resolution will now be key. In particular, ensuring that the investigation is indeed independent, comprehensive, and leads to actionable recommendations. The world needs to be better prepared for the next pandemic.
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