Month: September 2023

1) We, the Secretary of State of the United States and the Foreign Ministers of Australia, India, and Japan, met in New York City during the 78th United Nations General Assembly to reaffirm our unwavering support for the United Nations, the enduring importance of upholding mutually determined rules, norms, and standards, and to deepen Quad cooperation in the international system.

(2) The Quad reiterates its steadfast commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific that is inclusive and resilient.  We recommit to advancing the vision Quad leaders articulated in Hiroshima on 20 May 2023:  a region that is peaceful and prosperous, stable and secure, free from intimidation and coercion, and where disputes are settled in accordance with international law.  We strongly support the principles of freedom, the rule of law, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and peaceful settlement of disputes; and oppose unilateral attempts to change the status quo.  We seek to maintain and strengthen stability in the Indo-Pacific, where competition is managed responsibly.

(3) We reiterate our commitment to the UN Charter and call for all countries to uphold its purposes and principles, including refraining from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.  We underscore our commitment to upholding international law as the foundation for stability and equitable treatment of all member states.

(4) We are steadfast in our support for full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and achievement of all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), so no one is left behind, and reiterate that the SDGs are integrated, indivisible, and balance the three dimensions of sustainable development:  economic, social, and environmental.  We underscore the importance of achieving the SDGs in their entirety without selectively prioritizing a narrow set of such goals and reaffirm that the UN has a central role in supporting countries in their implementation.  We underline the primacy of the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs as a consensus document supported by all member states and call on member states and the UN to protect it.  The Quad’s practical action in the Indo-Pacific is advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its SDGs by delivering sustained economic and social value, that is responsive to regional partners.

(5) We affirm our support for a UN that solves the consequential challenges of our time and safeguards our shared and interconnected resources.  We are committed to advancing a comprehensive UN reform agenda, including through expansion in permanent and non-permanent seats of the UN Security Council.  In this regard, we call for a UN Security Council that is more representative, transparent, effective, and credible.  We underscore the need to address attempts to subvert the international system, including in the UN, and promote accountability.

(6) We support an open, stable, and prosperous Indo-Pacific underpinned by effective institutions and we reaffirm our unwavering support for ASEAN’s unity and centrality, the ASEAN-led regional architecture – including the East Asia Summit and ASEAN Regional Forum – and practical implementation of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific.  We respect Pacific-led regional organizations, foremost the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), and are committed to supporting Pacific Island countries in line with the objectives of the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent endorsed by PIF leaders.  We are also further strengthening our cooperation with partners in the Indian Ocean region, including through the Indian Ocean Rim Association, to address the region’s most pressing and important challenges.

(7) We commit to advance the initiatives announced by our leaders in Hiroshima to support the Indo-Pacific region through practical cooperation, including on climate change and clean energy supply chains, and on infrastructure through the Quad Infrastructure Fellowships Program and the Quad Partnership for Cable Connectivity and Resilience.  We continue to advance the development of a secure and trusted telecommunications network with a network modernization project and Open Radio Access Network deployment in Palau, progress on Quad cybersecurity initiatives — and explore avenues to share Earth Observation data to monitor extreme weather events and support climate adaptation.  We support the private sector-led Quad Investors Network to facilitate investment in critical and emerging technologies.  Such efforts help ensure the resilience of communities in the face of climate change and other global challenges.  We are pleased to soon carry out the second tabletop Quad Pandemic Preparedness Exercise through the Quad Health Security Partnership to enhance the region’s capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to outbreaks of infectious disease.  We will also continue to leverage our collective expertise to respond to challenges such as disinformation.

(8) We are driving practical, positive outcomes for the region through the Quad Maritime Security Working Group.  The Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness is supporting regional partners combat illicit maritime activities and respond to climate-related and humanitarian events.  We look forward to the Quad Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Working Group convening our second tabletop exercise in Brisbane, Australia, to strengthen the Quad’s readiness to support regional partners in times of humanitarian disaster.

(9) We also discussed the recent Quad Counterterrorism Working Group’s Consequence Management Exercise, which explored the capabilities and support Quad countries could offer regional partners in response to a terrorist attack and look forward to the upcoming Quad Counterterrorism Working Group meeting and tabletop exercise in Honolulu, Hawaii in December which will focus on countering the use of emerging technologies for terrorist purposes.  We continue to cooperate on countering the use of the internet and other technologies for terrorist and violent extremist purposes.  We are committed to countering terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including preventing the international and cross border movement of terrorists, and countering terror finance networks and safe havens.  We stressed the need for a comprehensive and balanced approach to effectively curb terrorist activities through whole of nation and whole of international community efforts.

(10) We reaffirm our conviction that international law, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the maintenance of peace and security in the maritime domain underpin the development and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific.  We emphasize that disputes should be resolved peacefully and in accordance with international law, without threat or use of force.  We emphasize the importance of adherence to international law, particularly as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to address challenges to the global maritime rules-based order, including with respect to maritime claims, and in the South and East China Seas. We emphasize the importance of maintaining freedom of navigation and overflight consistent with UNCLOS and reiterate our strong opposition to any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion.  We continue to express serious concern about the militarization of disputed features, the dangerous use of coast guard and maritime militia vessels, and efforts to disrupt other countries’ offshore exploitation activities.

(11) We express our deep concern over the war raging in Ukraine and mourn its terrible and tragic humanitarian consequences.  We underscore the need for a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in Ukraine in accordance with international law, consistent with the principles of the UN Charter.  We are deeply concerned about the global food security situation and support the efforts of the UN in the resumption of the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI).  In the context of this war, we concur that the use, or threat of use, of nuclear weapons would be unacceptable.  We underscore that the rules-based international order must respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states.

(12) We condemn North Korea’s destabilizing launches using ballistic missile technology and its continued pursuit of nuclear weapons in violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions (UNSCRs).  We reaffirm our commitment to the complete denuclearization of North Korea consistent with UNSCRs, and we urge North Korea to abide by all its obligations under the UNSCRs and engage in substantive dialogue.  We stress the importance of addressing proliferation of nuclear and missile technologies related to North Korea in the region and beyond and urge all UN Member States to abide by the related UNSCRs including the prohibition on the transfer to North Korea or procurement from North Korea of all arms and related materiel.  We reconfirm the necessity of immediate resolution of the abductions issue. 

(13) We remain deeply concerned by the political, humanitarian, and economic crisis in Myanmar and again call for the immediate cessation of violence, the release of all those unjustly detained, unhindered humanitarian assistance, resolution of the crisis through constructive dialogue, and a return to Myanmar’s transition towards inclusive federal democracy.  We are also concerned with the implications of the ongoing situation in Myanmar on neighboring countries including a rise in transnational crime such as drug and human trafficking.  We reaffirm our strong support to ASEAN-led efforts and the ASEAN Five-Point Consensus.  We also continue to encourage the international community to work together in a pragmatic and constructive way to support an end to the violence in Myanmar.

(14) We, the Quad Foreign Ministers, continue to advance the vision set by our Leaders – that the Quad’s multilateral cooperation will deliver concrete outcomes for the benefit of all people throughout the Indo-Pacific.  We intend to meet in person for the next Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Japan in 2024.

The surplus revealed in today’s Final Budget Outcome has been delivered off the back of the former Coalition Government’s strong economic management, sky-high commodity prices and Australians having to work harder to make ends meet in Labor’s cost of living crisis.

The Final Budget Outcome confirms under Labor we have seen higher taxes than forecast before the election including:

• $33 billion increase in income tax receipts
• $61 billion increase in company tax receipts

With tax-to-GDP hitting 23.8 per cent, Labor would be dangerously close to breaching the tax-to-GDP cap with its higher taxes if it hadn’t removed this crucial fiscal guardrail.

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor said the test for Labor is whether it can deliver a path to surplus over the forward estimates.

“A drover’s dog could have delivered a surplus this year,” Mr Taylor said.

“This surplus was largely driven by soaring commodity prices and higher tax receipts from Australians working harder for less to keep up with skyrocketing bills and prices under Labor.

“This budget windfall has been delivered by an industry the Albanese Labor Government is doing its best to destroy through market interventions, cuts to innovation funding and unworkable employment laws that will make it harder to invest and create jobs.

“Independent economist Chris Richardson has been crystal clear today: this is a windfall, not a management decision. Decisions from Labor have only made the budget bottom line worse off over its first two budgets.

“At a time when Australians are reeling from cost-of-living pressures, tax receipts are at their highest level in more than 16 years. Labor needs to recommit to the tax-to-GDP cap and rule out any changes to the stage 3 tax cuts.

“With the OECD and RBA warning of slower growth, higher inflation and higher unemployment over the next year Australians need a government with a clear plan to grow the economy, repair the Budget and bring down inflation. Instead of economic reform, Labor is distracted by its Canberra Voice and fighting employers.”

Shadow Finance Minister Senator Jane Hume said the only plan in Labor’s Budget papers is to deliver more deficits, higher unemployment and slower growth.

“A one-and-done surplus off the back of the economic setting put in place under the previous Coalition Government and sky high commodity prices is not an economic plan,” Senator Hume said.

“Instead of addressing stubborn inflation and lack of productivity, Labor is spending like it’s going out of fashion, pushing $188 billion more out the door since the Coalition’s last Budget.

“With collapsing real wages, a GDP per capita recession, record slumps in consumer confidence, falling labour productivity and one of the highest core inflation rates amongst advanced economies, Australia’s future does not look bright under Labor.

“Australian families and businesses are already paying the price for the lack of economic plan from the Albanese Government, they can’t afford for Labor to continue down this path.”

With the announcement of his COVID-19 inquiry, the Prime Minister has put political interest over Australia’s national interest.

He has rolled over to Labor Premiers and in doing so, the Prime Minister has broken a key promise that he took to the Australian people at the last election.

He promised that he would hold a royal commission or deep inquiry into the COVID-19 pandemic, looking at the response of all governments across Australia.

It is incredibly disappointing that the Prime Minister has walked away from his commitment.

Our response to the pandemic followed a uniquely Australian path, and it allowed us to come out of the pandemic with health and economic outcomes that were world leading.

But there is no denying how critical it is that, now the worst of the pandemic has passed behind us, we learn from the lessons that COVID-19 provided and how we could have improved our response.

This is in our national interest, and it is about our preparedness as a country.

Instead, what we have from the Prime Minister is a quasi-inquiry into the pandemic, concocted with a Terms of Reference that specifically excludes the states and territories, and with an approach that looks like a witch-hunt against the former Coalition Government.

Any inquiry into Australia’s COVID-19 response that does not involve the states and territories should be seen for what it is – purely a protection racket for Dan Andrews and Anastasia Palaszczuk.

In the absence of any powers to compel the involvement of state and territory governments, the Prime Minister’s inquiry is a wasted opportunity to be proactive about Australia’s preparedness for future pandemics should they arise.

Light must be shone in on all of the decisions that were taken following the outbreak of COVID-19 in our country, particularly considering the significant role played by the states and territories, who were often responsible for decisions that most impacted on Australians lives and on their livelihoods.

Actions like lockdowns, testing regimes, state border closures and other restrictions that were placed on the Australian people, which we know are still having ongoing implications.

And despite what the Prime Minister may seem to believe, an inquiry must also recognise that the pandemic did not end on 22 May 2022.

In fact, under the current government, we saw more Covid-related deaths in aged care in 8 months than in the entire first two years of the Pandemic.

And for this inquiry have any integrity and credibility, international comparisons and Australia’s standing relative to other countries must also be considered.

All of these factors must be looked at as part of a proper and thorough investigation that is genuinely aimed at bolstering Australia’s pandemic preparedness.

Otherwise, all we have here is a half-baked inquiry, merely aimed at distracting from Labor’s shambolic handling of today’s issues and expunging Labor Premiers’ past decisions.