Ukraine’s swipe at Albo’s surplus

Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia has signalled he’d like to see more military aid funnelled into his war-torn nation, given the federal budget had inadvertently benefited from Russia’s invasion.

The federal government confirmed it is on track to deliver a “substantially bigger” surplus than expected. Monthly budget figures, released by the Finance Department on Friday, show that at the end of May the budget was in a $19bn surplus.

Speaking with the ABC, Vasyl Myroshnychenko suggested the healthier-than-expected financial position was a direct result of shortages sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and meant Australia had the moral obligation to do more.

“Many of our partners have inadvertently benefited from the increased prices for commodities,

and, of course, this is all the result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” he said on Sunday.

“Countries like Canada, Norway, Australia – the increased prices for commodities have really done well for their budgets and the surplus of their budgets, and we’ll see how these countries are stepping up their support.

“Just this year, Norway has committed a multi-billion multi-year program of support for Ukraine. The same in Canada and I think there are many opportunities.”

Mr Myroshnychenko stopped short of demanding more from the Australian government, but said any additional aid would be warmly welcomed.

“It is up to the government to decide what else they can do for Ukraine … we’d be delighted if there were to be more support coming. We’re definitely thankful for what has been provided so far.”

In December, a report from The Australia Institute found exporters of Australian coal had been recording windfall profits.

The report – titled “From Russia with love: Coal profits from war in Ukraine” – estimated windfall gains to coal companies over 2021-22 were between $38B and $45B alone.

Between $13 to $23B of this is “directly attributable” to turmoil in energy markets following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year, report authors Rod Campbell and Matt Saunders found.

In addition to high commodity prices, higher revenues from taxes and less spending contributed to the boost to the budget bottom line.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Defence Minister Richard Marles last week announced the latest military assistance package for Ukraine totalling $110m.

While it featured 70 military vehicles, equipment requested by the war-torn nation such as Hawkeis (a light four-wheel-drive protected mobility vehicle) were not included.

Issues with the Hawkeis, including with the braking system, are understood to be reasons why the government chose not to provide Ukraine with the vehicles.

But Mr Myroshnychenko argued the government should have sent them anyway and claimed Ukraine was the “best testing ground” for the equipment.

“Many different defence industry companies throughout the world are testing their equipment in Ukraine now. We make it better, we make your defences much stronger. And that’s a great contribution to help Ukraine,” he said.

Mr Myroshnychenko also extended an invitation for Foreign Minister Penny Wong to visit the nation, saying it would help her get a “hands on” understanding of Ukraine.

“She does understand Ukraine very well but it always, when you visit, it gives you a different angle,” he said.

“It gives you a bit of hands on … I have seen it with your Prime Minister, I was there on that trip, and we were in Irpin, we were in Bucha, we were able to hear those stories which were out there shared with people, being under the Russian occupation.”