Resistance to joining Donald Trump’s Board of Peace is hardening within the federal government as Anthony Albanese considers how to knock back the offer without attracting blowback from the mercurial US president.
A senior Labor source familiar with the prime minister’s thinking, but not authorised to speak publicly, said concerns were growing inside the government about the board’s design and how it would interact with existing international organisations such as the United Nations.
While no official decision has been made, the senior source said the prospect of Albanese declining Trump’s offer was growing increasingly likely, although he did not feel under pressure to decide quickly.
Deliberations about whether to join the board come as Israeli airstrikes over the weekend killed at least 30 people in Gaza, marking one of the highest death tolls since the October ceasefire, and ahead of the expected reopening of the crucial Rafah crossing separating Gaza and Egypt.
Albanese has responded cautiously in the fortnight since Trump invited him to join the board, repeatedly emphasising that he was focused on other matters and that Australia is a strong supporter of the United Nations.
This masthead reported last week that two of Australia’s longest serving foreign ministers – Gareth Evans and Alexander Downer – believed Australia should not join the board in its current form.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Friday formally declined Trump’s invitation to join the board, reflecting a wariness among western democracies, including in Europe, about the value of the initiative.
France, Germany, Greece, Croatia, Sweden and Slovenia have rejected Trump’s offer to join the board, while the United Kingdom has raised serious reservations about its composition.
Russia and China have also been invited to join the body.
While there is little enthusiasm within the government about joining the board, there is an awareness that any decision to reject Trump’s offer must be communicated carefully to avoid offending the at times temperamental president.
Trump’s Board of Peace was originally discussed as a vehicle to aid the reconstruction of Gaza, but a leaked charter for the body makes no mention of the Palestinian enclave, highlighting its broader ambitions and potential to undermine the UN.
Asked on Friday whether he would join the board, Albanese said he had been “focused on domestic issues”.
“It must be said we have a very important security relationship with the United States through AUKUS, but also through organisations such as the Quad, the bilateral relationship that we have as well,” he said.
He earlier said that “it’s unclear what the objectives of this are, which is why we will give it further consideration”.
Former Labor foreign minister Evans said that the board was “manifestly designed to further undermine the UN, will further fragment the international system, does nothing to advance political resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Australia should have nothing to do with it”.
Former Liberal foreign minister Downer said: “The idea of President Trump being able to decide who is on and off it seems to make it too much of his plaything.
“I’d be happy for us to be involved in it in the context of Gaza, but beyond that, I think we should put it on hold.”
