The Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations (AFUO) remains profoundly disappointed by the Government’s decision to reject Ukraine’s request for Taipan helicopters and urges the Albanese Government to make fresh commitments to support Ukraine.
“We were buoyed by the reaction to our community rallies on the Taipans. In Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Hobart, the Ukrainian community asked why Australia was burying its Taipan helicopters instead of sending them to Ukraine,” said Mr Stefan Romaniw OAM, Co-Chair of the AFUO.
“After holding our first rally in Sydney on Sunday 14 January, the Government’s decision on the Taipans took off as a mainstream issue of interest last week. The wide-spread view was that this was a missed opportunity. Criticism of the Taipans decision was everywhere you looked in the Australian media, from print, to broadcast, to online, and all-over social media,” Mr Romaniw said.
“The depth of feeling in the Australian community was on clear display: people were not happy at all. Reporting, opinion pieces, editorials, and Letters to the Editor appeared in the Australian, the Financial Review, the Canberra Times, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Mercury, the Herald Sun and the Age, among others. Channel 9, Channel 7 and the ABC also picked up the story across the week.
“Defence experts and commentators reflected on the decision, with various calls for an inquiry into how this sorry saga unfolded. We wholeheartedly back those calls, particularly after the distressing revelation this week that the Government had been informed of Ukraine’s needs as early as mid-October. Many questions still need to be answered, and we thank elected representatives from across the political spectrum for their support,” Mr Romaniw reflected.
“Ukraine has long said, ‘Give us the tools and we will finish the job’, so this Taipans decision really beggar’s belief. Ukraine has many needs: for offensive capabilities, for defensive and protective technologies, for coal, for medivac channels — the list goes on and on. This episode illustrates that Australia needs a Whole of Government approach to Ukraine, an idea which the AFUO raised with the Albanese Government in the middle of 2023. It is time for the Government to dust off this idea and establish a Ukraine Support Coordination Office within the Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet which can draw together all that Australia can do across humanitarian, military, diplomatic, legal and other spheres to support Ukraine and Ukrainians.
“Australian support packages for Ukraine have become smaller and less frequent over the last two years, with Australia slipping from the largest non-NATO contributor to the sixth largest, as a percentage of GDP. But it is squarely in Australia’s interest to help Ukraine win this fight. While Canberra is a long way from the front line, Russia’s war against Ukraine has profound implications for the global order and strategic stability.
Distance does not protect Australia from the global challenges presented by aggressive, authoritarian regimes, such as Russia, which aim to weaken and threaten democracies, undermine their territorial integrity and compromise their independence,” he said.
Photo by Nicholas Buenk
