Clever or craven: Malcolm Turnbull's soft-shoe shuffle around Donald Trump

 

• Mark Kenny

   
• Australians are probably wondering what it will take? What breach of national values or irresponsible strategic posturing by Washington will be damaging enough to get a rise out of Canberra?
  It's a serious question. Axing a long-held joint commitment to free trade after leading a 12-nation process in good faith? Demanding a Chinese retreat, from territory to which the United States makes no claim, on pain of military action? Abandoning a non-discriminatory immigration policy, and thus being seen to inflame religious tensions with direct implications for Australia and the rights of its citizens? 
  As the Turnbull government feels its way forward with the unpredictable, amateurish presidency of Donald Trump, the answer seems to be none of the above.
  Australians are well versed in the claimed worth of the US-Australian relationship: shared values, compatible cultures, an unshakable adherence to the separation of powers and rule of law, and a rock-solid commitment to the international system for peaceful dispute settlement.

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  But even as the notion of "shared" values comes under direct assault, and when Australia's national interests are materially harmed, the response from Canberra tends toward the mealy mouthed. When Trump killed the Trans-Pacific Partnership, it was Labor's fault.
  In its first 10 days, the new administration has proved itself as populist and as myopically nativist as pessimists have feared.
  Using bombast and legally dubious "executive orders", Trump has: thrown the switch to protectionism with zero regard for allies and partners alike, flagged a 20 per cent impost on all US imports, threatened to force China back in the South China Sea (again with no regard for the regional consequences of such bellicosity) and, now, has trashed a value central to Australia, the US and most of the democratic world in the form of a non-discriminatory humanitarian-migration policy.
  On Sunday, Trump and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull spoke on the phone for 25 minutes. There are big implications in what was discussed, and not just in what was agreed. Yet those details remain secret.ARE ON FACEBOOK

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  President Donald Trump speaks on the phone with Prime Minister of Australia Malcolm Turnbull in the Oval Office of the White House. Photo: AP

  But it appears Turnbull was successful in gaining an exemption from Trump to allow the one-off resettlement deal for Manus Island and Nauru refugees to proceed. That is significant, even if, politically, it is a bare minimum for Turnbull's standing publicly, and within his party room.
  One suggestion is that Trump was heartened, perhaps decisively, by the Coalition's (read Tony Abbott's) hard-line border policies, seeing dual interests in this regard.
  
  
  http://www.canberratimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/clever-or-craven-malcolm-turnbulls-softshoe-shuffle-around-donald-trump-20170129-gu0tqm.html
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