Mr Turnbull Gets Results for Australia, page-10

The Trump administration is believed to have included a special last-minute clause in its controversial executive order on refugees as a particular favour to specifically cover the Nauru deal with Australia only after intense lobbying by Malcolm Turnbull and diplomats in Washington.
But senior US sources have told The Australian that the White House was “not happy” about the conflicting message it sent in its final executive order and now regarded the Australian government as having expended significant political capital over the deal.
The Australian has confirmed with several official sources that clause 5(e) was drafted “to cut Australia some slack” and only after the administration was persuaded by the relationship between Canberra and Washington and the significance of the US-Australia alliance.
But it is believed Mr Turnbull was told that a condition of the deal was that the 1200 asylum-seekers slated for resettlement would be subject to elevated security vetting.
Although the Prime Minister’s office refused to comment further on the deal, US officials privately have made no secret that Australia would ultimately be expected to reciprocate, most likely on issues of force commitment to Iraq and Syria in the fight against Islamic State or freedom-of-navigation exercises in the South China Sea.
President Donald Trump has made the war against Islamic State a priority, with the Pentagon working up military options.

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The US source pointed to a purported draft of the executive order, dated and leaked on January 23, that made no mention of “pre-existing international agreements”.










The final copy of the executive order released at the weekend had been redrafted with a clause inserted to cover “pre-existing international agreements”.
The new clause 5(e) expanded the caveat of State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to make case-by-case decisions on refugee admissions, to include arrangements already in place through the existing international agreements. The lobbying by Australian officials intensified in the past week, with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop engaged in two phone conversations with Vice-President Mike Pence before the order was signed.
“It is very clear that it was a special favour to Australia,” the source said. “They changed the executive order specifically. The view was that they would cut Australia some slack.
“They didn’t like it as it sent conflicting messages.
“The favour won’t be called in straight away … but some sort of reciprocity will come eventually.
“And that is likely to come in the form of freedom-of-navigation exercises or the deployment of special forces to Iraq.”
Another source with links to the White House confirmed that the administration was concerned about the mixed message the Nauru deal would send and that it believed the US had gone out of its way to accommodate Australia for its own domestic political agenda.
While senior government sources claimed that the securing of the deal signalled the strength of the relationship and a sign that Mr Turnbull had “leverage” they acknowledged that Mr Trump was a transactional leader and that eventually Australia might be asked to “stump up” in return.
Bill Shorten yesterday repeated his calls for Mr Turnbull to condemn Mr Trump’s executive order, which placed a suspension of all refugee intakes into the US.
“When you are the Australian Prime Minister, you stand up for Australian values,” the Opposition Leader said. “Our Prime Minister, when he saw what was happening, he stayed silent. There isn’t much point in having the top job if you’re not going to back in what you believe.”
Mr Turnbull said it was not the Australian Prime Minister’s job to be making commentary on the domestic policies of other countries.
“When I have frank advice to give to an American president, I give it in private as good friends should — as wise prime ministers do — to ensure they are best able to protect Australia and Australia’s best interests,” he said.
So far none of the 1200 asylum-seekers who are part of the deal have been resettled in the US.