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| Minister for Defence: Senator Marise Payne |
By Helen Clark
Australia has a new PM, new Defence minister, new White Paper… what about the South China Sea?
Australia not only has a new prime minister, in what Taiwanese animators have called the “revolving door of Australian politics,” but a new Defence Minister. That portfolio has, at times, revolved so swiftly the centrifugal force could power a fairground.
Since January 2006 Australia has had ten Defence Ministers, serving an average of a year to under two years. Stephen Smith, under both Rudd and Gillard lasted four days past three years. David Johnson, a year and a third, lost the job after saying he wouldn’t trust the Australian Submarine Corporation to “build a canoe.” He was replaced by Kevin Andrews who has now been succeeded by Marise Payne, the first woman to hold the portfolio.
Save for foreign editor Greg Sheridan, at The Australian, this reshuffle has been greeted with surprise, yes, but general approval. Though a quiet senator from New South Wales, Payne is considered competent, conscientious, and has a strong interest in defense and has served on foreign affairs committees in the past. She has been welcomed over at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and heralded in mainstream press, too.
However this is a momentous time for defense, Sheridan was right about that. Australia has committed to bombing ISIS in Syria as part of the U.S.-led efforts (at a time when Russia has thrown in for Assad, complicating matters), there is a white paper to be delivered, which she has had no part in writing, there is a decision on whether to build a new submarine fleet in Australia either partially, totally, or at all, and a decision to be made between competitive evaluation process competitors Japan, France and Germany. And will Australia’s defense budget be increased to two percent of GDP? Exciting times.
So, what’s her policy direction?
Payne has refused to publicly speculate on any submarine decision. (It is important to note she is from New South Wales and not a state with a stake in ship or submarine building.) She believes ISIS to be a serious threat “who are intent upon disrupting Western democracies’ ways of life.” Generally, Payne seems to share the PM’s foreign policy direction.
Read the full story at The Diplomat