Saturday 20th of April 2024
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geopolitical jabs...

zedzed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Noting that China saw vaccines as a “global public good” and had no “geopolitical agenda” or “political strings” attached to its rollout, Wang urged Australia to “stop disrupting and undermining vaccine cooperation between China and Pacific island countries” and “work together to... advance international anti-pandemic cooperation with concrete actions.”

It is likely that Wang was referring to comments made in recent months by several senior Australian officials, including Frances Adamson, who heads Australia’s foreign affairs department. In March, Adamson discussed China’s “vaccine diplomacy” during a parliamentary spending hearing.

Stating that she had read “second- or third-hand” reports of vaccines being offered “with strings attached”, Adamson said “it would not be surprising if there were conditions attached in some instances” when it came to vaccine distribution.

In PNG on a trip to bolster “cooperation on health security and infrastructure”, Australia’s minister for international development and the Pacific, Zed Seselja, said any claim that Canberra was interfering with China’s vaccine distribution was “absolutely not the case” and “rejected by the Australian government”.

In an interview with the ABC network, Seselja said the Australian government was “fulfilling our moral and economic responsibility” to the region.

“We come to these issues in good faith, and we’ll continue to do things that are in the interests of our region and in the interest of our friends and neighbours, most particularly PNG,” Seselja told ABC.

He said that those who subscribed to China’s view should “look at Australia’s record during this period, and over a long period of time, of providing high-quality healthcare support and providing vaccine support.”

 

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/528511-australia-denies-china-vaccine-sabotage/

now we know...

gorillagorilla

PNG in the middle...

 

On two sides of Papua New Guinea's capital, there are duelling vaccine rollouts run by Australian and Chinese representatives taking place.

In the face of a contagious new variant and widespread vaccine hesitancy, PNG is taking help from any neighbour offering it.

But vaccines have become a loaded political issue lately. 

On a Saturday morning in the car park of Papua New Guinea's biggest shopping centre, the country's first pop-up clinic has just opened. Music is playing, free shirts are being given away, and importantly, people are getting their jabs. 

While this Port Moresby clinic is being run by PNG's health authorities, Australian embassy staff are on site helping, and almost everyone is wearing face masks and shirts emblazoned with the "AusPNG Partnership" logo.

On the other side of the city, at Port Moresby's biggest hospital, another vaccine clinic has been set up.

But this one is being run by a visiting Chinese medical team administering doses of the Sinopharm vaccine.

 

PNG, which recently detected its first case of the Delta variant, agreed to offers of vaccine supplies from both China and Australia earlier this year amid a surge in COVID cases.

But the geopolitics tied up in the schemes have been hard to ignore, particularly with the Chinese government recently accusing Australian advisers in PNG of interfering with and delaying the rollout of its vaccine in the country.

It is an allegation Australia has denied.

PNG caught between two powers

Like most Pacific countries, PNG has long walked a careful diplomatic line amid the geopolitical battle that is intensifying in the region, and it has become somewhat adept at managing the potentially awkward situation. 

 

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-02/png-caught-between-australia-and-china-as-it-fights-delta/100329206

 

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freefree

 

from zed to zero…

Could Liberal senator Zed Seselja be put to the sword by Canberrans at the 2022 election? A mix of scenarios emphasises the possibility.

 

There is speculation at almost every federal election about the Liberals losing their ACT Senate seat. But they never do. Why might this year be different? There are a number of reasons to look at this possibility again in 2022.

  • The Liberals have a very weak candidate.
  • It should be a strong election for Labor in Canberra and they have a strong candidate.
  • Some interesting Independent candidates are already in the field.

However, it is important to give some statistical background to illustrate the magnitude of the task.

At the last election, despite a well-intentioned but poorly judged “Dump Zed” campaign, Zed Seselja was easily re-elected. The Liberals received 32.38 per cent of the first preference votes, which was 0.97 of a quota. He eventually won the second Senate seat with 34.15 per cent after preferences over the Greens who came third with 19.16 per cent.

Therefore, to win any Independent will have to take votes from the Liberals unless the Labor Party vote, which was 39.35 per cent last time, increases significantly at the expense of the Liberals.

The result was not very different in 2016. The Liberals received 33.21 per cent, which left them only fractionally short of a quota. The Greens received 16.1 per cent, which left them under half a quota.

These figures illustrate the magnitude of the task facing opponents of the Coalition. But they also show that it is not impossible.

To look at the reasons for reconsidering the possibility in more detail, the Liberal candidate will be the same as last time. Seselja may be seen as a weak candidate at any time but especially so at this election as he has demonstrated how far he is from majority community attitudes in Canberra with his approach to euthanasia. He also seems out of step on the integrity commission question as well as key issues like climate change.

If he was stronger there would be no point in taking it further. However, his weakness opens up the possibility of change.

The Labor Party always does well in Canberra when the party is in opposition. The polling at the national level looks strong and Katy Gallagher is a popular and effective senator. This gives the Labor Party the potential to eat into the Liberal Party vote and leave them shorter of a quota than in the past two elections.

 

Read more:

 https://johnmenadue.com/a-battle-within-the-battle-for-canberra-can-act-banish-liberals-from-senate/

 

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