Our foreign policy brings us international shame

I have never been so ashamed of Australia’s foreign policy. We have helicopters we do not want and that Ukraine needs. What do we do? Break them up and bury them. We have tanks that we will never use and which Ukraine needs, we have abundant coal to help Ukraine’s population survive the winter – what do we do? Keep it in the ground. Then to add insult to injury, we support a UN vote for a ceasefire in Gaza without first asking for the immediate and prior release of the Israeli hostages and condemnation of Hamas’s crimes.

– Anthony Gentile, Maroubra, NSW

The fence of equivocation has been replaced by a tightrope balancing act as Foreign Minister, Penny Wong deals in situ with the demands of those affected by the Gaza horror, and seeks to present the Australian government as humane, effective and just, to those in the Middle East and in Australia.

Although absolutely necessary and correct that Wong should meet with the Israeli relatives and survivors of the Hamas massacres and hostage-taking, not visiting the kibbutzes, the ground zero of this current ghastly conflict, sends a message of pandering to the pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel lobby.

Also in this vein is channelling approximately $6m of Australia’s Gaza funding package towards the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees – long accused of disseminating anti-Semitic material in schools and allowing its resources to be pilfered by Hamas.

Furthermore, warning Palestinian Authority officials that the $6m is for civilian healthcare and childhood education, and must be managed carefully to prevent misuse by terrorists, is perversely naive in the extreme, and smacks of Pontius Pilate-esque handwashing.

– Deborah Morrison, Malvern East, Vic

It is easy to become depressed at the current state of Australian leadership and the image it raises. Our Defence Minister is prepared to scrap our fleet of helicopters rather than send them to Ukraine; our Prime Minister’s lack of gumption in relation to the issues with Houthis in the Red Sea; the Department of Defence is to build missiles – with no aircraft, no navy and no “on the ground” personnel to carry or man them! I await the next chapter of Gulliver’s Travels to see his take on our land of make-believe!

– Kim Akerman, Moonah, Tas

Richard Marles and the other government ministers and departments who say they must bury the Taipan helicopters have a moral duty to retrieve whatever price they can for our unwanted Taipan helicopters. They do not have the moral right to deny Australian taxpayers whatever return they can make. If they cannot or will not do that, then they have another choice. In the case of Ukraine, there is a clear humanitarian need to adapt them for medivac purposes. The Ukrainians will do the adaptation at no cost to us. We therefore have a moral duty to donate them. Most Australians would support such a decision.

– Nick Partridge, Shenton Park, Perth

There is absolutely no moral or any other reason Richard Marles or Anthony Albanese could construct to refuse sending Australia’s unwanted Taipan helicopters to Ukraine. Not sending them for safety reasons won’t wash as Ukraine will take full responsibility for any mechanical mishaps and the French are committed to refurbishing them. To disassemble and bury millions of dollars worth of vital military equipment when Ukrainians are fighting for survival is unconscionable.

– Peter Jacobsen, New Farm, Qld

In Defence, the minister is disassembling and burying helicopters, rather than gifting them to the caveat emptor-aware Ukrainians. In Foreign Affairs, the minister is gifting taxpayer funds – this time $21m, on top of the two announcements since the atrocities of October 7 of $10m and $15m for Gaza, supposedly for humanitarian aid.

In The Lodge, the prime ministerial reaction to the “wolf warrior” provocation from the Chinese ambassador is to cite the predictable inanity about co-operating where we can and disagreeing where we must. As a result in Moscow, Tehran and Beijing, Labor’s “trio” are turning themselves, and our nation, into a laughing stock.

– Mandy Macmillan, Singleton, NSW