The Australian Prime Minister was filmed in Tonga joking with a senior US official about “halving” the cost of a newly announced policing plan for the Pacific.
Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell appeared to suggest in the video that the United States wanted to pursue an unspecified security-related proposal but had been encouraged by Australia not to pursue it.
The video was shot on Wednesday after the Pacific Islands Forum (Pif) announced its support for the new Pacific Policing Initiative, which includes a training and coordination centre in Brisbane, Australia.
A multinational rapid response police unit is to be created and four police centres of excellence are to be set up in the Pacific island states. Australia will provide $400 million over a period of five years to set up the centres.
The video, posted online by Radio New Zealand, began with Campbell telling Anthony Albanese that the US delegation was traveling to several locations in the Pacific, including Tonga.
Although the United States and China are not PIF members, the two countries vie for influence in the region and regularly send high-level delegations to side meetings at the events.
Albanese replied to Campbell: “Well, we had a bang today when we got the Pacific Policing Initiative through. It’s so important, it’s going to make a big difference.”
Campbell described the Australian-backed initiative as “fantastic.” The senior US official reported a conversation with “Kevin,” most likely referring to the Australian ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd.
“I talked to Kevin about it – well, you know, we wanted to do something and he asked us not to do it, so we didn’t. We gave you the lead, so take the lead!”
Albanese then joked: “Oh, you can halve our costs if you want.”
The two laughed. Australia’s Pacific Minister Pat Conroy, standing nearby, seemed to notice that the conversation was being filmed and said, “Come on!”
At a press conference in Tonga on Thursday morning, Albanese was asked whether Campbell would “get anywhere near your money’s worth on this police plan.”
The Prime Minister laughed and replied: “No, he won’t, because it’s coming from the Pacific. I know the video of a private conversation. Kurt Campbell is a buddy of mine, we talk.”
Albanese said he was not prepared to disclose which initiative Australia had advised the United States against in the region.
after newsletter campaign
“No,” Albanese told reporters. “It was a lighthearted, friendly conversation. You know, it is what it is. People try to read something into it – you must be pretty bored.”
The idea of the US giving Australia a “lean-to” in the region is a delicate one, given that at least one PIF member expressed concerns earlier this week that the Pacific Policing Initiative was being portrayed as a geopolitical move to exclude China.
Hours before the agreement was announced, Vanuatu Prime Minister Charlot Salwai said the region must ensure that the plan “is designed to meet our objectives and not to accommodate the geostrategic interests and security posture based on geostrategic denial of our major partners.”
When asked by a reporter if he said the quiet part out loud, Albanese said: “What was the quiet part? It’s a great announcement. That’s what I said. I stand by it.”
He asked the journalists to relax.
In its report on the exchange, Radio New Zealand said an RNZ Pacific journalist shot “cut-away shots” of Albanese and Campbell after Australia announced the $400 million in funding for the police plan at the press conference.
“During filming, the two began to discuss police work,” the RNZ report said.
Australia has repeatedly expressed concern about China’s attempts to conclude security and policing agreements with Pacific island nations, including the 2022 agreement with the Solomon Islands.
However, the Australian government argues that the new police agreement is “about the Pacific family and its safety” and “not about any other country”.
