Of course, our main focus must be – and always has been – our own region. Regional diplomacy has been one of the Albanese government’s success stories: the more nuanced approach to China, the recent Australia-ASEAN summit in Melbourne, the genius of the prime minister’s Kokoda hike with his PNG counterpart. Penny Wong has repaired our relations with Pacific island nations, the neglect of which by her predecessor Marise Payne contributed to Australia’s greatest diplomatic setback of recent decades: the security treaty between the Solomon Islands and China.

Yet our successful regional diplomacy must not come at the expense of Australia playing an appropriately engaged role elsewhere. For a maritime trading nation in an increasingly joined-up world, important conflicts beyond our region can have an impact upon us just as serious and immediate as if they occurred closer to home.

Loading

Ukraine’s successful defence against the Russian invasion is not just a European imperative. It is of profound importance to us as well, particularly given the message a Russian victory would send to Xi Jinping. Our recently announced $100 million of additional assistance was paltry, compared with the contributions announced the same week by the United States and the United Kingdom, yet Ukraine’s success is just as important for us as it is for them.

Australia’s decision to decline to contribute a naval vessel to the democracies’ efforts to protect shipping in the Red Sea from Iran-directed Houthi missile and drone attacks, can only be interpreted – and has been interpreted by our partners – as a message that Australia does not regard this as an important priority for us. Yet about a third of world shipping – including all of our trade with Europe – depends upon it.

Domestic politics has also played a role in weakening our presence on the world stage. In a nation acculturated to the belief that we live in a sequestered and peaceful corner of the world, public opinion has still not fully caught up with the grim truth that this is no longer so.

Too many Australians stubbornly refuse to accept the need for our political leaders to be fully engaged at the highest levels of international diplomacy – hence the juvenile criticism of prime minsters’ foreign travel (remember “Kevin 747”?) It simply would not happen in any other serious country. The opposition knows this is populist gold. With an election not more than a year away, Albanese (“Airbus Albo”) will be sensitive to this, and as a result is likely to miss key meetings, such as the upcoming NATO + summit, where our absence at head-of-government level will reinforce the perception that Australia simply does not take its global responsibilities seriously enough.

In the 21st century, given the global nature of the threats democracies face, and the closer strategic integration of the Indo-Pacific with the Euro-Atlantic, the notion of proximity is becoming increasingly less relevant. While successful regional diplomacy is a self-evidently good thing, it must not come – and does not need to come – at the cost of neglecting our vital interests elsewhere in the world.

And although the core focus of AUKUS is the Pacific, it should not be forgotten that the key decisions of our two partners will be made in Whitehall and the Pentagon – in capitals on either shore of the Atlantic.

George Brandis is a former high commissioner to the UK, and a former Liberal senator and federal attorney-general. He is now a professor at ANU.