Morrison has ties to Biden’s inner circle but wants to wait...

Australian government sources said the task of developing channels to a Biden administration isn’t as difficult as the Obama and Trump administrations because they wouldn’t start with a clean board.

A number of people close to Mr Biden – including Jake Sullivan, Ely Ratner, Tony Blinken, Michèle Flournoy and Avril Haines – are known to Australian officials.

Ms. Haines, the CIA director, helped negotiate the refugee deal with the Australian government and was a major driver of that in the Obama White House. The former Deputy National Security Advisor, now on Foreign Policy and Climate Change on the Biden Transition Team, has been valued in the Turnbull administration.

Ms. Flournoy, who is alleged to be a Defense Secretary favorite, is also close to senior figures in the Australian government. She spoke to senior Australian government officials and foreign policy experts on a call last month, sources confirmed.

Australian government leaders who have dealt with those close to Mr. Biden during the Obama administration include DFAT Secretary Frances Adamson, Secretary of Defense Greg Moriarty and Secretary of State Marise Payne.

Michael Fullilove, director of the Lowy Institute, said the staff that make up Mr Biden’s cabinet and senior national security positions would play a big role because “Trump was the decider, and if he didn’t like what, what If you did, he would fire you ”while a Biden administration“ will be different ”.

He said a Biden administration is “tough on China” but treats its allies in the region with more respect than Trump.

While Australia welcomed Trump’s more assertive stance on Beijing, the U.S. president regularly unsettled traditional American allies like Japan and South Korea by demanding that they pay billions more for a U.S. troop presence. The US has also broken away from multilateral fora such as the World Trade Organization and the World Health Organization in the past four years, while not significantly participating in regional groups such as ASEAN.

Mr Fullilove said he did not expect a Biden administration to take the same approach to Beijing as the Obama administration.

“Since the Obama administration, China’s behavior and foreign policy have tightened, and Washington’s focus has shifted in parallel,” said Fullilove.

“So I think any US government would take a very competitive approach to China.”

He said Mr Biden would do more to address climate change, including signing the Paris Climate Agreement, which would “change the atmosphere” for Australia.

Dennis Richardson, a former Australian ambassador to the US, said the rhetoric of a Biden presidency was much more familiar to Australia than what we had heard in the past four years under President Trump.

“A Biden administration will continue to want US allies to do more on the defense front, but the language won’t be nearly as robust as what we’ve seen from Trump,” he said.

“I don’t see a Biden government joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership anytime soon. I think a Biden government will be reasonably firm and consistent with China on both the South China Sea and trade. ”

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“With regard to climate change, a Biden government can be expected to rejoin the Paris Agreement. However, it will be limited in its capabilities by legislation from a Republican-controlled Senate. However, he will be able to make changes up to a point through regulation. ”

Mr Richardson said the Australian government would use the same level of diplomacy it had shown towards the Trump administration, but the channels into a Biden administration should be more “conventional”.

Mr Albanese and opposition foreign policy spokeswoman Penny Wong called on Mr Morrison on Friday to urge Mr Trump to “respect the democratic process” regarding the US President’s election fraud claims.

Mr Morrison said Saturday he would not comment on the result until all votes have been counted and the result announced.

“I honestly found it a little strange that he [Mr Albanese] I would think Australia should be in a different position than any other world leader, “said Morrison.

“I just said the same thing as any other world leader, and that means we respect the institutions, we respect democracy and we should just be patient – in fact (former) Vice President Biden said the same thing.

“Trying to make a link between United States politics and bias injecting it into Australia is very divisive and unnecessary.”