A small majority kept Labor’s China grovelling within acceptable bounds in its first term.
But now, a big majority has unleashed a radicalised Albo who is spending his political capital on breaking ANZUS.
Washington is not amused, and why would it be while we freeload on its defence capability and build up its archrival’s military?
The Pentagon is pressing Japan and Australia to make clear what role they would play if the US and China went to war over Taiwan, in an effort that has frustrated the two most important American allies in the Indo-Pacific.
Elbridge Colby, the US under-secretary of defence for policy, has been pushing the issue in meetings with Japanese and Australian defence officials in recent months, said five people familiar with the discussions.
The push is his latest effort to convince US allies in the Indo-Pacific to enhance deterrence and prepare for a potential war over Taiwan.
After publication, Colby wrote on X that the Pentagon was implementing US President Donald Trump’s agenda of “restoring deterrence and achieving peace through strength”. He said that included “urging allies to step up their defence spending and other efforts related to our collective defence”.
With China Albo gallivanting around with the CCP, the timing of this is obvious.
All we need to do to silence these questions is to carry our weight in defence spending by lifting it to 3.5% of GDP. Trump would probably even put up with the dreadful Kevin Rudd if we did so.
Instead, Albo has gaslit ANZUS:
- Long and luxurious trips to China.
- Attempting to boost Chinese tourism (which also means raising Chinese house purchases and immigration).
- Grovelling at home to China through silence.
- Refusing to lift defence spending.
- Appointing Trump-hater Rudd to Washington.
- The Curtain Oration.
- Excusing Chinese bad behavior, such as running missile drills off Sydney, while castigating the US.
Given that only US hegemony holds local democracy in place, this is playing fast and loose with the national interest.
There is some comfort in the fact that the US operates critical military infrastructure on the Australian landmass. The Australian.
For most Australians, clinging to the continent’s east and southwest coasts, the Harold E Holt Naval Communications Station is out of sight and out of mind.
Towering radio masts rise from its central point and each corner of its two hexagonal ring roads, broadcasting very-low frequency signals to Australian and US submarines, including nuclear-armed American “boomers”.
…Nearly 1700km southeast as the crow flies is another more well-known national security installation, Pine Gap. It’s been ingrained in the national consciousness, inspiring sporadic protests and one of Midnight Oil’s most famous songs – Power and the Passion. (“Flat chat, Pine Gap, in every home a Big Mac. And no one goes outback, that’s that.”)
Few know, however, that this joint Australian-US facility 18km south of Alice Springs gives the US 20-30 minutes advance warning time of a Russian or Chinese nuclear attack.
That’s long enough for whoever is in the White House to launch a devastating counterstrike. It’s this guarantee of mutually assured destruction that, theoretically, keeps America’s enemies from pressing the button, and gives credibility to the US’s extended nuclear umbrella that protects its allies, including Australia.
Top secret files leaked by former NSA officer Edward Snowden confirmed Pine Gap, codenamed “RAINFALL”, also “plays a significant role in supporting both intelligence activities and military operations”, feeding in signals intelligence to the US’s ECHELON surveillance program.
Until Albo, Washington had no reason to rethink the reliability of these bases.
It will be now, and planning alternatives.
