US foreign policy hurts Australia: poll...

December 23, 2003 - 4:27PM

A majority of Australians believe American foreign policy is having a negative impact on Australia, a new poll has found.

The Roy Morgan poll of more than 600 people found 57 per cent believed American foreign policy was hurting Australia, up from 43 per cent seven months earlier.

Just before the war in Iraq, 51 per cent of respondents said American foreign policy was having a negative impact on Australia.

But the poll found the number of people believing American foreign policy had a positive impact on Australia stayed constant at 31 per cent through the year.

The number of people saying they were unsure about the impact of American foreign policy dropped to 12 per cent from 26 per cent.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/12/23/1071941719560.html

It's having a really negative effect on the US. I'm not surprised it's having negative impact on countries that consider themselves allies.

...is the Australian government supporting Bush in Iraq?

Because it's a conservative coalition government which wasn't elected on issues of how US foreign policy affects Australia, but was elected thanks to a trumped up claim that asylum seekers (mainly Afghans and Iraqis) trying to arrive here by boat threw their children into shark-infested waters, and also touting a claim that the few hundred asylum seekers who did find their way here were a danger to our security. Back when Howard committed troops to the invasion of Iraq, a majority of Australians opposed getting involved, but that's a No Can Do for any conservative government, which as a rule always follow the traditional insurance policy route when it comes to foreign policy. They believe that to ensure they retain the 'protection' of a 'great and powerful friend' they need to offer up help even before being asked for it (as in Vietnam) because then if Australia is ever threatened, the theory goes that they can call in all the favours they've done and get something in return. If the ANZUS treaty was the be all and end all of protection that they tout it as, of course the insurance policy approach wouldn't be needed, but anyone who has the most basic knowledge of ANZUS knows the treaty isn't worth the paper it's written on...

Violet...