Interactions by Australian leaders with the US Global Alliance have been well rehearsed in over eighty years since the death of President Roosevelt (FDR) in 1945. Largely self-imposed restraints on Australia’s sovereignty as a middle power within the Alliance have waxed and waned considerably during this period on both sides of Australian politics.
This America First era is a full moon as the Easter Spring Festival approaches in Washington. The biggest mobilizations in US history are being planned for Easter Saturday as the Middle Eastern conflicts continue without exit strategies. The groundswell of Australian resistance is quite limited in comparison.
Regrettably, the Commander in Chief has no understanding of democratic nuances. Even the text of the ANZUS Agreement signed during the early Cold War in 1954 had progressive caveats about the need for consultation with Australia prior to military engagements within the goals of the UN Charter.
Ironically, it was Tony Abbott who invited China’s President Xi to address parliament on 14 November 2014 as negotiations on the Australia-China Free Trade Agreement were being finalized with consensus from G20 leaders assembled in Brisbane soon after this historic address.
Small contingents of Chinese PLA joined training exercises in Australia between 2015-18 under the watch of both Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull. Deteriorating global tensions in President Trump’s first term (1917-21) and the arrival of Scott Morrison at the Lodge ended this win-win co-operation with appropriate mentoring from Boris Johnson (British PM 2019-22) in implementing Britain’s Brexit agendas in favour of closer ties with the US.
Back in 2010 when Julian Assange helped to expose the excesses of historical Cold War imperial wizardry in the Wikileaks’ revelations. The revelations in those diplomatic cables from the Whitlam and Fraser years are now side-lined in favour of imperial strategic adventures with support from economic diplomacy initiatives from both sides of Australian politics.
In government for less than three years prior to the dismissal of Prime Minister Whitlam in 1975, the Australian Labor Government took these alliance caveats seriously. Australian sovereignty within the Alliance reached a high moon phase.
In the post-dismissal era after 1975, both the LNP and Labor sought to stabilize strategic ties with successive US administrations to forge a more US-focused style of security relationship. With NZ out of the formal Alliance through its opposition to port calls of naval vessels and submarines carrying nuclear weapons in the mid-1980s, the Hawke Government co-operated with the formation of the Australia-US Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN).
The Albanese Government continues these arrangements by supporting the AUKUS commitments of the Morrison Government during the election campaign in 2022. The alternative might have meant another term of LNP government.
The goodwill generated by PM Albanese’s visit to the Oval Office on 20 October 2025 was also accompanied by appeasing gestures towards Trump’s America First era. Australia offered new commitments to strengthen AUKUS II Protocols. The encounter showed tolerance for both economic and strategic commitments to Trump’s Alliance Shield defences on both strategic and economic fronts.
Australia offered ten billion dollars’ worth of critical minerals needed for AI civilian data centres as well as corporate aerospace and defence projects.
Financial commitment has already been made to expand naval shipyards to assure the delivery of nuclear-powered submarines with added support for British involvement with AUKUS here in South Australia and in the UK. Both the Albanese Government and the Crisafulli Government in Queensland were also committed to the supply of gallium to the US and other key allies from NW Queensland and the Townsville Critical Mineral Hub.
After Labor’s landslide victory in 2025, commitment to AUKUS II Pillars still intensified. Australia sought to involve Japan and New Zealand in its supply chain to support AUKUS.
President Trump has offered broadsides against both Australia and Britain for their failure to supply warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Persian Gulf to assist in opening international waterways to commercial oil shipping (ABC News on 26 March 2026):
Donald Trump singled out Australia for criticism as he accused a string of allies of failing to help secure the Strait of Hormuz amid the US’s war with Iran.
“Australia was not great. I was a little surprised by Australia,” the US president told a lengthy cabinet meeting in Washington.
Prime Minister Albanese continued his appeasement with President Trump despite this criticism. Albanese politely claimed that President Trump is not in full command of factual details. Australia had responded with the dispatch of the Wedgetail radar system to the UAE. This was the only request from the White House.
The Albanese administration inherited the deep strategic and economic ties between Australia and the US. Just waving a rhetorical wand against President Trump would not have changed this situation. Deep networks of economic and strategic tries have evolved since the Wikileaks era.
ABS data shows the growth in US investment in the Australian economy. These figures are expected to be updated by ABS on 6 May 2026.
Level of Foreign Investment in Australia
Under the Australia US Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA), the US Trading Office (USTO) monitors Australia compliance with the terms of this agreement. Details of old complaints against Australia are featured on the web site of the US Trade Representative (2013 NTE Australia Final.pdf). Legislative changes in Australia have since added to these concerns but have not generated new responses on the web site which is strongly committed to America First goals:
Programming from government funded Australian public broadcasting networks and film studios has uncompetitive implications within the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA). Provisions of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992, the Communications Legislation Amendment (Australian Content Requirement) Act 2025 and the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 have reinforced these US concerns through corporate networks like Disney and Netflix.
President Trump can also go too far in extending the limits of US hegemony. His criticisms of Australia are a welcome break from mutually favourable rhetoric about the need for a stronger alliance on both economic and strategic fronts. Public opinion here is reacting to the excesses of the Trump administration:
The Guardian Essential Poll (March 24–25 2026)
- Approval of Strikes: Only 26% of Australians approve attacks on Iran.
- Disapproval of Strikes: 43% explicitly disapprove of the military action.
- Neutral/Unsure: 31% were undecided or responded, “don’t know.”
The Labor Party’s industrial and political support base is also quite divided at a grassroots level on the issues relating to the excesses of US economic and strategic policies in this America First era. The Labor Cabinet stays with the Hawke era commitments to the USA which now extend into economic diplomacy and tolerance for protection of civilian investment in new data centres, controls on investment from BRICS countries like China and even environmental and planning protocols at both federal and state levels.
Finding the exit ramps to the excesses of military strikes just for fun is a full moon imperative which true centre-left governments must recommend with the zeal of mythical Hollywood characters like Dorothy Gale of Kansas against a vulnerable wizard with a resonant microphone and lots of support from his loyal intel witches.
Metaphors of Popular Leaders with Dogs Named Toto:
Denis Bright (pictured) is a financial member of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA). Denis is committed to consensus-building on the critical issues raised in each article.
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Describing the current Labor government as Centre-Left is a bit optimistic. Some of their factions might be, but most are squarely centrist. Are we too far down the AUKUS money drain to pull out?
Has a “weighted average” of decent administration of world leadership, diplomacy, ever been of a lower unsatisfactory standard? Regular ordinary governing is inadequate, all ordinary citizen groups seem restless, but, thieves, liars, cheats, homicidal dunces and thieving rascals abound. Pox. Meanwhile we seem to be in reverse, in trouble, in peril.
The time has long since passed when a generation of Australians were grateful for USA assisting us in repelling the existential threat of Japanese invasion. Since that time Australian Prime Ministers have made all sorts of commitments and acquiescence to requests from US Presidents for “assistance” with American hegemonic projects without seeking any discussion or input with the Australian electorate. The current US President has proven to the world that he and his regime cannot be trusted in matters of international diplomacy let alone execution of foreign policy, yet this current Labor Government (driven by the fear of media criticism) refuse to confront and call out USA for instigating the illegal bombardment of Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen and Iran at the behest of Zionist Israel. The so-called “democratic and moral values” espoused by Trump and US political parties do not align with the future interests of average Australians and it is about time that Albanese and his executive ,(and also the current Opposition),came to the same conclusion.
Perhaps waving a rhetorical wand is better than more appeasement.
Alas, Andrew hastie still appeases President Trump but with some reservations on the Insiders’ Programme this morning
Denis, Thanks for an interesting summmary of the US war and the relevance to the Anzus treaty.
Worth watching but East of Ipswich from the BBC from 1987 is not about East Ipswich and Booval in Queensland: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tjii5Nti-B0
Good comment, Keith. The two mainstream parties have been fossilized by political insiders and lobbyists for different causes. The Labor’s Left faction is not very left. No grassroots members of the industrial and political Labor movement support Trump. Only the policy insiders support AUKUS and the military industrial complexes. Rule by decree is not in the Labor traditions of Whitlam and Keating during the 1990s after that recession we had to have and the worst since the 1930s on Labor longest watch (1983-96) in Australian history.
And it might take another global recession to turn our ship of state around Keith as political insiders and their lobbyists want a more Americanized Australia that looks to streaming services like Disney for lifestyle models of behaviour and social values.
The Albanese-Trump agreement on critical minerals in the lead pic of this article was a dangerous Faustian bargain re-enforced by plans for US Controlled Data Centres in Australia. Why wasn’t this discussed more in the mainstream media as it dissolves strong ties with China on possible alternatives to this full participation in this Alliance Shield?
A series of issues have great impact on what can be unwound regarding this illegal and illicit war and the corporations that profit from it….
https://johnmenadue.com/post/2026/02/features-of-a-common-humanity-to-replace-imperialism-in-trumps-peace-board/?
https://johnmenadue.com/post/2026/03/after-the-iran-war-persian-gulf-nations-face-tough-decisions-on-the-us-a-former-diplomat-explains/?
https://johnmenadue.com/post/2026/03/iran-war-controlling-the-narrative/?
https://johnmenadue.com/post/2026/03/irans-target-list-taking-the-war-to-multinationals/?
The simple fact of the matter is that the UN is impotent and complicit for various reasons to resolve this and Trump has destabilized International Law, International markets with his corruption of bitcoin, trade and long-term economic disruptions which by the way will create additional opportunities for less reliance on fossil fuels.
It’s the ongoing chaos and the clown circus that supports him which we will all have to deal with one way or another.
Gutless politicians and their ilk globally will no longer be tolerated.
The last word with Doobie Brothere’s….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rxWPEdYCnI
Denis has covered the links between Trump’s attempts to bomb Iran into the Stone Age with the corporate power that delivers these threats from major military industrial firms that make their profits from war through Lockheed Martin, RTX (formerly Raytheon), Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics and Boeing plus a cast of hundreds of other major players.