Auspol Election 2019: Foreign policy questions
Marise Payne (LNP) @MarisePayne
Penny Wong (ALP) @SenatorWong
Election debates are often perfunctory, uninformative, all about style rather than substance, and often avoid the questions which voters are actually interested in hearing answers to. That’s because debates are supposed to be either won or lost. This makes them almost useless and rarely decisive, particularly in the case of foreign policy.
Below are a range of foreign policy questions for Marise Payne and Penny Wong. They won’t be asked in rigidly controlled environments such as the National Press Club or the Lowy Institute because one of diplomacy’s dark arts is avoiding commitments and difficult questions. This makes it even more important that they should be posed somewhere before the 18th of May.
SB
On the United States
Are you concerned that increasing protectionism under President Trump will further undermine the Doha round of the World Trade Organisation (WTO)?
Will you try and dissuade President Trump from withdrawing from the Paris Agreement (within the UNFCCC), which will otherwise most likely occur in November 2020?
Do you support the decision of the United States to impose visa bans on International Criminal Court (ICC) staff, seemingly to block any ICC investigations into the actions of the US military in Afghanistan and Israeli actions in Palestine?
Will you condemn Washington’s decision to withdraw from the Arms Trade Treaty?
On Israel-Palestine
What is your response to PM Netanyahu’s intention to annex West Bank settlements now that he has been re-elected? Do you think this would be the end of any possible 2-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict?
Do you support the UN’s independent inquiry into the IDF killings of Palestinians in Gaza which says civilians were deliberately targeted and that these attacks may constitute war crimes?
Do you consider the Golan Heights to be Israeli territory as Washington recently declared?
On Yemen
Do you think it is appropriate for the US (our ally) and the UK (our friends) to be materially supporting Saudi Arabia’s war against the people of Yemen given the humanitarian catastrophe this has caused, including widespread civilian deaths and cholera outbreaks?
On Saudi Arabia
What is your reaction to Saudi Arabia’s recent public execution of 37 people, including one by crucifixion? Given this, the recent murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey, and Saudi Arabia’s ongoing attacks on Yemen, do you think it is morally appropriate to sell military equipment to the ruling family in Riyadh?
On Syria
Do you recognise Bashar al Assad as the legitimate head of the government of Syria?
On Turkey
Do you recognise Turkey’s occupation of northern Cyprus?
On Russia
Do you recognise Russia’s annexation of Crimea?
On Morocco
Do you recognise Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara? Do you still support MINURSO?
On Afghanistan
When will all Australian troops be withdrawn from Afghanistan?
On West Papua
Are you concerned by increasing Indonesian military repression in West Papua, including rapidly escalating civilian deaths and displacements?
Do you consider the UN-sponsored Act of Free Choice in 1969 to be a legitimate expression of the political aspirations of West Papuans?
On Venezuela
Do you think the United States has the right to determine the government of Venezuela?
Do you support US economic sanctions against Venezuela?
On Iran
Do you still support the JCPOA despite Washington withdrawing its support for the agreement?
Do you consider the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to be a terrorist group?
Do you support escalating US sanctions against Iran?
On Julian Assange
Do you consider Julian Assange to be a journalist? If so, should he have whistleblower protection?
Are you comfortable with Assange being extradited to the US to face charges for the normal activities journalists carry out every day?
What impact do you think his extradition and prosecution would have on investigative journalism?
