Australia as non-combatant honest broker –
What can we do?
Use the information in this website, its Internet links and resources elsewhere to make a case for Australia as non-combatant honest broker in any future US/China war.
The key question is: What is the likely impact of an Australia/US/China war – on everybody involved?
- Pope John Paul and Kofi Annan agreed “…in war, all are losers.” (Canberra Times, 4 April 2005)
- But if Australia is not in the war we are better placed to help bring it to an end.
- We’re not talking about something “hypothetical” here; rather, an appalling event that is "entirely conceivable", as former US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage says – and he should know! (Sydney Morning Herald, 13 April 2005)
As individuals locally
Talk to friends.
Write to five people you know enclosing the information you have.
- Ask them to write to five of their friends, and their friends, and so on.
Speak to clubs, associations, the council, business groups. Get in experts to canvass the issues – for and against.
- There are many "experts" in all Australian universities, all major newspapers and national and regional think tanks. See if they'll talk for expenses only. Maybe the club can pay a fee, if necessary.
- Always ask: What possible benefit can there be to Australia from joining a nuclear war?
Get a local action group together.
Write to the local paper.
Put a small ad in the local paper – No Australia/US/China War – using this website's banner colours, including the red underlining in the NO. In the ad ask "Want to know how?" and give the website address and/or other websites/local email contacts that you have established.
Get local radio/TV to look into the issue. Make it a talkback issue.
- What will it do to the local economy and local businesses?
- What's the likely impact on local businesses run by Australians of Asian descent in the event Australia is involved with a nuclear war with China?
Raise the issue in on-line chat rooms. Write articles and letters for on-line publications.
With business and unions
Write to peak federal and state business councils and federal and state unions to seek their views.
- If you are a union member get this issue up for discussion at union meetings.
- Write to the ACTU about getting it on the national ACTU policy agenda.
Write to Chambers of Commerce.
Write to peak international tourism industry bodies.
- Australian involvement in a nuclear war with China would most likely stop international tourism to Australia overnight.
Are you a shareholder in any public company that does business with the US and/or China?
- Seek senior management's views on the likely impact of an Australia/US/China war on their business and what it is doing to ensure it doesn't happen.
With politicians
Talk to/write to all the Federal and State branches of all political parties in your area.
- Get them to give you official, formal advice – in writing – on what the branch position is.
Don't take 'hypothetical" for an answer. Write back if you get it.
Talk to/write to all Federal/State Parliamentary representatives in your area.
- Without their support for Australia as non-combatant honest broker we would most likely join a US/China war.
- We have to get them thinking about the issue before the Parliament and Government as a white-hot crisis.
- Local members will not support Australia as non-combatant unless they know that it is an election-critical issue in the local electorate. Remember: this issue is almost always out of sight but can erupt without warning.
Don't take "hypothetical" for an answer. Write back if you get it.
- Make your local federal/state politician answer this question: "Should Australia join a war between the US and China for any reason?"
- Ask them to answer "Yes" or "No".
Do not allow "maybe" or "hypothetical" as an optional answer; specifically exclude them as possible answers
With governments, their senior advisers and senior bureaucrats
Write to State Premiers, State Tourism Ministers, Ministers responsible for marketing states' investment profiles overseas; write to the heads of their Departments.
Write to the Prime Minister, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Minister for Defence and their senior advisers.
- Some expert commentators consider Mr Downer is already signalling to the US that we won't join a US/China war – see his equivocal comments in Beijing on 17 August 2004 and again in Canberra on 14 March 2005.
- At present, no federal or state politician would be willing publicly to push for Australia to acquire non-combatant honest broker status in a US/China war.
That's why they need to hear from the electorate all over the country that this is a policy worth pursuing.
Write to Emergency Management Australia in Canberra and ask what contingency plans they have in place for the consequences of an Australia/US/China war.
- Pass on the response you get to this website, to your email network and everyone else you know.
Ask your State SES the same questions.
With parliaments
Write to the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate to ask them to work on this issue in their committees.
Write to State Parliament committees with responsibilities for managing state emergencies and natural disasters.
- Ask them what they are planning to do in the event of a sudden and unexpected war between the US and China involving Australia.
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