Key Points
- The US requested an Australian warship in the Red Sea as Houthi rebels continue their blockade of the area.
- The government has confirmed it will not send a warship, but will instead deploy additional navy personnel.
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the best way to contribute to stability in the Red Sea was through diplomacy.
Australia will not send a warship to the Middle East, despite US requests, but will deploy additional personnel to help its closest ally.
The government was considering a request from the US to deploy a Royal Australian Navy ship in the Red Sea to help secure international shipping lanes as of the area in a show of support for the Palestinian people.
But on Thursday, Defence Minister Richard Marles confirmed the government would not directly deploy a warship and would instead send navy personnel.
"We won't be sending a ship or a plane," he told Sky News.
"That said, we will be almost tripling our contribution to the Combined Maritime Force.
"We need to be really clear around our strategic focus and our strategic focus is our region - the northeast Indian Ocean, the South China Sea, the East China Sea, the Pacific."
Up to six extra Australian Defence Force officers will be deployed to the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) in Bahrain in early 2024 and another five personnel will be embedded in the CMF headquarters for Operation Manitou, which supports international maritime security efforts in the Middle East and East Africa.
This will bring the total CMF contribution to 16 personnel. The CMF is made up of 39 member nations.
Opposition foreign affairs spokesperson Simon Birmingham agreed Australia's strategic priorities lie in the Indo-Pacific. He said the Suez Canal was also integral to Australia's interests.
"We rely upon our alliances and our partnerships that contribute to and complement our focus in this region, just as those allies and partners would rightly expect us to contribute and partner in other operations," he said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday the best way for Australia to contribute to stability in the Red Sea was through diplomacy.
But Birmingham said the idea "doesn't really pass muster".
"Does anybody really think that the Australian government has some effective diplomatic back channel to the ?" he told ABC radio on Thursday.
"What is needed here is practical security for international freight to be able to safely pass through one of the busiest freight channels in the world."
More than 12 per cent of global trade flows through the Suez Canal, which is linked to the Red Sea.
Without practical measures, Birmingham says the Houthi's ship diversions would add days of extra fuel and staffing costs.
"That will flow through to global inflation just at a time when Australians can no longer afford to pay for that inflation," he said.
Australia last deployed a Navy ship in the Middle East in 2020, as part of Operation Manitou.
The CMF was established in 2001 and is headquartered in Bahrain with the US Navy's 5th Fleet.
Its website says the CMF works to uphold the International Rules-Based Order by "protecting the free flow of commerce, improving maritime security, and deterring illicit activity by non-state actors in the CMF Area of Operations." Its work includes anti-narcotic and anti-smuggling operations.
