Australia Readies for G20 Summit | The Diplomat

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Shirtfronting, traffic and terror worries, and

government spending excesses have dominated
Australian media coverage in the lead-up to the
G20 Leaders Summit in Brisbane. But Canberra has bigger plans for the most significant
gathering of world leaders the nation has ever hosted, not least including the challenge of reviving
a faltering global economy.
Despite being described as a stairway to heaven for international bureaucrats with its 69 official
related meetings, Australia has pledged to deliver tangible outcomes at this years gathering with
its agenda of promoting stronger economic growth and employment outcomes and making the
global economy more resilient to deal with future shocks.
Leaked documents have pointed to growing expenses for the event, including A$150,000
($132,000) for a special conference table, despite Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbotts pledge
to rein in the frivolous plans of his predecessor.
Yet since assuming the G20 presidency in December 2013, the government has promoted the
significance of the event for the worlds 12th biggest economy.
The G20 Summit will be the most significant meeting of world leaders Australia has ever hosted.
With 4,000 international delegates and 3,000 media anticipated to attend, it will bring global
exposure to Brisbane in a way not experienced since the Commonwealth Games and World Expo
of the 1980s, Abbott said in a statement.
With the G20 gathering representing more than 85 percent of global gross domestic product
(GDP), 75 percent of global trade, and 65 percent of the worlds population, Abbott has stressed
the event will be more than a talkfest, with practical measures to remove international
impediments to trade, jobs and growth.
In February, G20 finance ministers and central bank governors pledged at a Sydney meeting to
lift our collective GDP by more than 2 percent above the trajectory implied by current policies
over the coming five years, or effectively a 0.5 percent annual GDP gain, delivering a $2 trillion
boost to the global economy.

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At a follow-up meeting in Cairns, Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey announced that the same
group had delivered strategies that will achieve 1.8 percent of additional growth across the global
economy[making it] 90 percent of the way to meeting the 2 percent growth ambition we set at
our Sydney meeting. Hockey said genuine measures had been put forward by all G20
economies, with around 80 percent of the 1,000 measures announced being new.
Hockey also cited agreement on a Global Infrastructure Initiative to boost investment, along
with new international tax rules, improved financial regulation and proposed reform of the
International Monetary Fund, as well as a coordinated response to the Ebola epidemic. Other
measures on the agenda for the November 15-16 Leaders Summit include cutting trade barriers,
promoting competition, regulating the shadow banking sector, improving energy markets and
curbing corruption.
Traffic, Terror Warnings
While Beijing has reportedly encouraged residents to vacate ahead of the APEC summit to help
clear its polluted air, Brisbanes Lord Mayor Graham Quirk has called on the citys 2.2 million
residents to stay and prevent the Queensland state capital from becoming a ghost town.
It is absolutely important to our city and its future that we do not have 3,000 journalists writing
about a ghost town. We do not want that, it would be bad news for Brisbane, for its tourism, for
its retail, for a whole lot of other things into the future, Quirk said.
A public holiday has been declared for Brisbane on November 14 ahead of the start of the Leaders
Summit, while the city government has launched music, dance and light shows to keep residents
entertained as part of the G20 Cultural Celebrations.
Despite police pledges to limit the events impact, parts of the city will be in lockdown mode,
including Brisbane airspace, when U.S. President Barack Obamas Air Force One begins its
descent into Brisbane airport. Obama reportedly will bring two planes and Russian President
Vladimir Putin three among around 50 aircraft expected for the event, delaying flights at the
nations third busiest airport, which plans to erect 13 kilometers of strengthened perimeter
fencing.
The motorcades of the visiting G20 leaders are expected to block roads between the airport and
city venues such as South Bank, where the event is being held, while more than 6,000 police
guard key meeting areas.
However, Brisbanes Courier Mail has warned of plans by anarchists to lay siege to overt
symbols of capitalism, threatening waves of destruction against the event. Police reportedly are
preparing for the sort of violent scenes that broke out during the summit in Toronto in 2010
when more than 1,100 people were arrested.
The daily newspaper has also cited warnings from spy agencies of a potential terrorist attack
outside the heavily protected lockdown zone, particularly given Australias role in the battle
against ISIS in Iraq, although acknowledging there was still no known threat against the G20.
Abbott vs Putin
Australias prime minister attracted international controversy with his threat to shirt-front

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Putin over Russias role in the MH7 Malaysian Airlines tragedy, in which 38 Australians died
among the 298 allegedly killed by Russian-backed Ukrainian separatists.
In an escalation of a war of words between the two nations, Abbott said: Im going to shirt-front
Mr. Putin. I am going to be saying to Mr. Putin Australians were murdered. Therell be a lot of
tough conversations with Russia and I suspect the conversation I have with Mr. Putin will be the
toughest conversation of all.
In Australia Rules football parlance, shirt-front is a charge aimed at knocking an opponent to
the ground. A Russian official responded by noting that Putin has a black-belt in judo compared
to Abbotts university boxing experience.
Despite speculation that Putin would be barred from the event, the Russian leader is still expected
to attend, notwithstanding the sanctions imposed on his country by other G20 members. A
reported anti-Putin rally is planned for the first day of the summit.
The Abbott governments move to focus the G20 on economic matters has also led to criticism
over such issues as climate change, with Obama reportedly planning to join other world leaders in
pushing for global action, despite Australia and Canadas reluctance.
Concerns have also been raised over Argentinas debt default and Indias veto over a global trade
deal, while some commentators have suggested the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks should
have priority over the G20, given the TPPs potential to deliver a broader free trade zone spanning
40 percent of world GDP.
However, analysts still believe the G20 event would prove worthwhile.
What should you expect from the Brisbane summit? Id answer that with one word: traffic. Its
going to be a complete lockdown and Id just go away if I were you, joked Matthew Goodman of
the U.S. Center for Strategic and International Studies at a recent Brisbane conference hosted by
the Australian Institute of International Affairs and the Lower Institute for International Policy.
Its a meeting that is a meeting like all meetings it will have some parts that are tedious, some
parts that are not particularly productive, and then some things will hopefully come out of it
based on an agenda that Australia has teed up, he added.
But the point is these leaders sitting around a table and talking in the hallways and over dinner
and so forth, are having an opportunity to build habits of cooperation among them. These leaders
are busy peoplebut they dont actually have the chance to talk to their peers once a year about
important issues that matter to all of themand so thats why the G20 is still important,
regardless of what it actually does.
You cant get President Obama to come all the way to a lovely place like Brisbane just because its
a lovely place there has to be something that comes out of it. For the United States, its growth
and financial stability, at the essence, he said, citing subpar global growth, particularly in
Europe.
Chinas Ye Yu of the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies said Beijing saw the G20 as
heading in the right direction with its global growth target and cooperation on financial issues.

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China takes the G20 very seriouslyfor example, in the 18th Party Congress document in 2012,
the G20 was written into the document as a very important international platform. Thats the
most important strategic document guiding the new leadership.China is [also] trying to
increasingly integrate the G20 into its strategic dialogue with the US and Europe, Yu said.
She noted that the Chinese leadership saw the G20 agenda as legitimizing its domestic growth
strategy, although targets for external trade balance and exchange rates were still sensitive areas
for Beijing.
Wonhyuk Lim of South Koreas Korea Development Institute cited the benefit for Australia:
Theres an old diplomatic saying that if youre not at the table, youre on the menu. In 2010,
when Seoul was the venue for the G20 summit, it was viewed as a coming of age celebration for
Korea, finally being at the table.
The way it is structured, middle powers like Australia can play a very important role in
facilitating and mediating among the members and making the whole enterprise work. Thats
why its so important for Australia this year to host the G20, and why its in Australias national
interest as well as the global interest to make the G20 function well as a multilateral forum for
international cooperation.
Asked if Brisbane would see any lasting benefit, Goodman responded: I wouldnt have high
hopes for this to have a lasting benefitit will benefit Brisbane economically, but youre going to
have a lot of traffic and shutdowns and there will be a cost from that. It will highlight Australias
role as a leader in a group like this, and that will have some lasting benefitbut if Abbott and
Putin do have a shirt-front it could be quite memorable.
Anthony Fensom writes for The Diplomats Pacific Money section.

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