Australia sinks US warship request
The Albanese Government has confirmed it won’t send a warship to the Middle East to help protect commercial shipping from Yemen-based rebels, despite US requests.
The US and UK have been hitting Houthi rebel targets in Yemen in response to attacks on Red Sea shipping. Photo AAP
The Albanese Government was asked by the US to deploy a Royal Australian Navy ship in the Red sea and help secure international shipping lanes including the Suez Canal, as Houthi rebels blockade the area in a show of support for Palestine during the Israel-Hamas war.
The US earlier this week released a list of nations that had agreed to join the security force dubbed “Operation Prosperity Guardian” which would patrol the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, with Australia not included.
On Thursday, Defence Minister Richard Marles confirmed the government would not send a warship as requested.
“We won’t be sending a ship or a plane,” he said.
“That said, we will be almost tripling our contribution to the Combined Maritime Force.
“We need to be really clear around our strategic focus and our strategic focus is our region – the north east Indian Ocean, the South China Sea, the East China Sea, the Pacific.”
Up to six extra Australian Defence Force officers will be deployed to the Combined Maritime Forces in Bahrain in early 2024 and another five personnel will be embedded in the CMF headquarters for Operation Manitou, which supports international maritime security efforts in the Middle East and East Africa.
This will bring the total CMF contribution to 16 personnel.
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said that while Australia’s strategic priorities lie in the Indo-Pacific, the Suez Canal was also integral.
“We rely upon our alliances and our partnerships that contribute to and complement our focus in this region, just as those allies and partners would rightly expect us to contribute and partner in other operations,” he said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday said the best way for Australia to contribute to stability in the Red Sea was through diplomacy.
But Birmingham said the idea “doesn’t really pass muster”.
“Does anybody really think that the Australian government has some effective diplomatic back channel to the Houthi rebels in Yemen?” he said.
“What is needed here is practical security for international freight to be able to safely pass through one of the busiest freight channels in the world.”
More than 12 per cent of global trade flows through the Suez Canal, which is linked to the Red Sea.
-with AAP
