Rudd's timing. It's no accident. (Video Thumbnail)
Click to play video



Recommended


Replay video

Canberra’s $25 million campaign for a seat at the world’s top table paid off early today, when Australia raced ahead of Luxembourg and Finland in voting at UN headquarters to win membership of the UN Security Council.

Great achievement for a country so far from the corridors of world power 

A triumphant Foreign Minister Bob Carr told reporters in the UN lobby: “It’s always good to see Australia win – and this is a big, juicy, decisive win.”

Winners ... Australia's Foreign Minister Bob Carr casts his ballot.

Winners … Australia’s Foreign Minister Bob Carr casts his ballot. Photo: AFP

Australia’s stint on the Security Council will begin on January 1 and will last for two years.

Finland was tipped as the most likely of three candidates for two non-permanent seats – the other candidate was tiny Luxembourg. But in a remarkable diplomatic feat, which Senator Carr attributed to steadfast support from African nations and the island states of the Pacific and the Caribbean, Australia bagged its seat with 140 votes.

Senator Carr signalled that the Security Council business in most need of attention by Australia and four other new non-permanent members included the Syrian civil war. He hedged on a bid by Palestinians for greater representation in the UN and he urged greater acknowledgement for the reform process in Burma.

In Australian domestic politics, the vote amounts to a vindication of former prime minister Kevin Rudd’s decision to bid for the seat – five years after both Finland and Luxembourg had begun campaigning. Also, it was a rebuke for Opposition Leader Tony Abbott who last month ridiculed the Prime Minister Julia Gillard for “swanning around New York” with Africans when she attended the UN.

Senator Carr this morning praised Ms Gillard for her work lobbying other nations, and also recognised Mr Rudd’s early work on the campaign.

He said the Coalition should now embrace Australia’s victory.

”This is an unequivocal win for Australia and we couldn’t have done it without the prime minister’s lobbying,” Senator told ABC Radio.

”Julia Gillard engaged in intensive diplomacy with heads of government and heads of state and made a big hit in the UN last month.”

Mr Abbott welcomed the win, but said this morning it came at the cost of many tens of millions of dollars and some dislocation of ordinary diplomatic processes.

”It was an expensive win and I think it probably owes as much to Kevin Rudd as to Julia Gillard, but nevertheless a win’s a win,” he told the Nine Network.

“Let’s hope we put the next two years on the security council to good use.”

After weeks of seeming anxiety driven by the opaque uncertainty of the secretive UN voting system, Canberra’s ambassador to the UN, Gary Quinlan, acknowledged that Australia might have had a better sense of voting trends than it was letting on. He told reporters: “People voted the way they told us they would vote.”

But in explaining the victory vote, Mr Quinlan said that in past votes as much as 25 per cent of promised votes failed to materialise. In the lead-up to today’s vote, Australia had been pledged about 150 votes which meant that, after taking account of a possible 25 per cent discount, the race was going to be close.

The seat won by Australia is one of two allocated to what it known as the West European and Other Group of UN countries, which included Australia for reasons of its membership of the Commonwealth.

Celebrating the win as a victory for Australian diplomacy and values, Mr Carr argued that Canberra’s margin was greater than that won by Germany two years ago – “great achievement for a country so far from the corridors of world power.”

Australia was elected on the first of what had been expected to be at least several rounds of voting before any of the candidates registered the required two-thirds majority.

In the first poll, Australia secured an 11-vote buffer against a precarious run-off vote. Finland, the favourite in the field, was left floundering, as Luxembourg outpolled it – 128-108.

In a spill vote, Luxembourg defeated the stunned Finns by 131 to 60 votes.

with AAP

Follow the National Times on Twitter