Stony Abbott takes IS fight to UN
Tony Abbott shuffled into the room – one of the most iconic and powerful spaces on Planet Earth – with a look of stony seriousness.
There was no wide-eyed “how did I get here?” wonder as the prime minister worked his way around the famous horseshoe that is the United Nations Security Council table. No visible signs of excitement or anticipation as he prepared to become the first Australian prime minister to address this most august of world bodies as a sitting member.
Abbott was here to work.
He did crack a smile as he had a brief but animated chat with the world’s most powerful man, US President Barack Obama. But it was quickly back to the task at hand.
And the council didn’t muck around.
Within minutes of the leaders taking their seats, Obama put his ambitious plan for a global crackdown on Islamic State foreign fighters to a vote.
The leaders raised their hands and just like that it was done – the council had unanimously passed a legally-binding resolution requiring all nations to stymie the travel and funding of IS terrorists.
The outcome was never really in doubt but it was still a momentous occasion. It’s only the sixth time in the UNSC’s nearly-70 year history it has met at leader level; and only the second time the US president has ever chaired a meeting.
Sitting beneath the massive mural of a phoenix rising from the ashes of World War II, Abbott vowed Australia’s “unflinching” support for the fight against IS.
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But if the prime minister found it to be a daunting or remarkable moment, he wasn’t letting on.
“As I often say it’s not about me, it’s about our country,” he told reporters later.
“And it’s about what’s in the best interests of our country.
“And plainly it’s in the best interests of our country that Australians do not leave our shores to go to the Middle East where they will become radicalised and brutalised.”
