Opposition MP says global rules-based order is dead amid Iran conflict
Updated ,first published
Opposition sector spokesman Andrew Hastie, while questioning whether the devastating military attacks of the USA and Israel against Iran will lead to regime change, explained that the global rules-based order is dead and this power is now the dominant authority in geopolitics.
The comments came as the opposition demanded the federal government do more to support Australian travelers stranded in the Middle East, with Defense Minister Richard Marles signaling “emergency arrangements” were being considered to help evacuate stranded Australians.
“I think the world is governed by force, and I would prefer a strong United States to restore deterrence rather than other countries, such as Russia, using force to advance their national interests,” Hastie told reporters at Parliament House in Canberra on Tuesday morning.
“It’s great to talk about the world that once existed post-World War II. What do we call it, the global rules-based order? I don’t think that exists anymore, and anyone who says it does is living in a fantasy land. It’s a new world order.”
The war in the Middle East escalated rapidly during the three-day US and Israeli offensive against Iran; The battered country launched attacks on Israel, Lebanon, the UAE and Kuwait. US President Donald Trump warned that a “major wave” of attacks was imminent, saying the conflict could last “much longer” than the four or five-week operation he had previously hinted at.
Questions about the legality of strikes, which many international lawmakers argue are contrary to international law, have been largely ignored by the Labor Party. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday night that any decision on legality was “a matter for the United States” and would be based on intelligence Australian officials did not have.
In the UK, Prime Minister Keir Starmer claimed that US and Israeli attacks were against international law and questioned the feasibility of Trump’s conflict plan.
Starmer’s comments to the UK House of Commons came shortly after Trump said he was “very disappointed” by the prime minister’s decision to deny the American military access to British air bases during the initial attack. Starmer has since granted access to British bases.
In a rare departure from typical UK-Australia foreign policy, Marles said the government supported America’s position.
“Iran pursuing the path of acquiring nuclear capability is against the rules-based order and against nuclear power. [nuclear] The nuclear non-proliferation treaty and all the regimes that we have around the world to limit the proliferation of nuclear weapons,” Marles told Seven’s. Sunrise.
Labor ministers have repeatedly rejected the suggestion that the Australian military was involved in the conflict. Hastie, a former SAS commander who served in Afghanistan, said all options for Australian involvement should remain open but questioned the timeline of the conflict and whether regime change was a credible prospect.
“President Trump said the end situation was that we were going to attack Iran and then leave it to the Iranian people to do regime change in four to five weeks. What would be left of a functioning government? At least in Iraq and Afghanistan, there were coalition troops there to establish some kind of law and order,” Hastie said.
“It’s going to be very messy, and you could see the rise of another Islamist regime that continues to oppress the Iranian people. So I’m very cautious about war being a blunt instrument for regime change. It’s very, very difficult, and having done nation-building myself by force of arms, so I’m being very cautious about this whole thing.”
While key air travel corridors in the Middle East remain closed, Marles said the government was exploring vague “emergency arrangements” to support the return of heirs, while reiterating that the quickest way for citizens to return was for commercial flights to return.
Marles told Nine’s: “There are 115,000 Australians in the region and to give you an idea, on any normal day around 11,000 Australians get on a flight through Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Doha and so there’s a significant number of Australians there. Obviously we’re working on all of this as quickly as possible.” Today.
“There have been some reports of a limited opening of marginal airspace, but that’s actually what we’re keeping a close eye on. We’re currently going through some emergency regulations that we’re looking forward to in the coming days and weeks – I won’t be talking publicly about those.”
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Nick Newling is the federal politics correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email.
