Latest news with #AustraliaUSAlliance
Daily Mail
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Albanese accused of neglecting the US
By Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been accused of sidelining Australia's alliance with the United States ahead of his upcoming trip to China. Albanese acknowledged Australia's pivot towards the United States during World War II during a speech at an event commemorating former Labor leader John Curtin. 'John Curtin is rightly honored as the founder of Australia's alliance with the United States, a pillar of our foreign policy that commands bipartisan support, respect and affection,' he told the crowd on Saturday. 'But our alliance with the US ought to be remembered as a product of Curtin's leadership in defense and foreign policy, not the extent of it. The comments, framed as Albanese's 'progressive patriotism', have drawn criticism for downplaying Australia's alliance with the US at a critical time. The address came just weeks after US President Donald Trump cancelled his scheduled face-to-face meeting with Albanese at the G7 Summit in Canada, to deal with escalations in the Middle East. It also follows Australia rejecting calls from Washington to raise defense spending from around two to five percent of GDP. At the same time, key NATO allies have agreed to ramp up their military budgets to the 5 per cent target, following a summit in The Hague and pressure from the US. Sky News host Paul Murray said Albanese's attempt to draw similarities between present day and the Curtin-era was 'taking the piss'. 'What I did find offensive about the suggestion from the speech on Saturday was, "Oh, well, this is just like John Curtin. We know how to balance things",' he said. 'The only reason we need to build up our military is because of China, not because of America.' Meanwhile, Nationals Senator Matt Canavan called on Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong to be more transparent about their foreign policy strategy. 'I think the Australian people deserve to know, does the Albanese government view America as the most important friend and ally to our country... which has been the case since John Curtin made that shift ,' he told Sky News. 'Or do they think we should replace the United States with the likes of a dictatorial communist regime in Beijing?' Opposition Leader Sussan Ley also criticized the Curtin speech, saying Albanese needed to do more to build on the alliance in the United States. 'At a time of global uncertainty, growing conflict and a growing list of issues in the Australia-United States relationship, now is a time to build our influence in Washington, not diminish it,' Ley said in a statement. 'Many Australians will wonder whether this speech at this time was in our national interest, given so many things crucial to Australia's future are currently being considered by the US administration.' It is understood that artificial intelligence, healthcare and a revised trade agreement will be top of the agenda when Albanese meets with his Chinese counterpart.
Daily Mail
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Anthony Albanese accused of getting 'cozy' with China and neglecting US
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been accused of sidelining Australia's alliance with the United States ahead of his upcoming trip to China. Albanese acknowledged Australia's pivot towards the United States during World War II during a speech at an event commemorating former Labor leader John Curtin. 'John Curtin is rightly honoured as the founder of Australia's alliance with the United States, a pillar of our foreign policy that commands bipartisan support, respect and affection,' he told the crowd on Saturday. 'But our alliance with the US ought to be remembered as a product of Curtin's leadership in defence and foreign policy, not the extent of it. In an allusion to ongoing tensions in the AUKUS agreement, Albanese said Australia should be not be 'shackled to our past'. 'So we remember Curtin not just because he looked to America. We honour him because he spoke for Australia, he said. The comments, framed as Albanese's 'progressive patriotism', have drawn criticism for downplaying Australia's alliance with the US at a critical time. The address came just weeks after US President Donald Trump cancelled his scheduled face-to-face meeting with Albanese at the G7 Summit in Canada, to deal with escalations in the Middle East. It also follows Australia rejecting calls from Washington to raise defence spending from around two to five per cent of GDP. At the same time, key NATO allies have agreed to ramp up their military budgets to the 5 per cent target, following a summit in The Hague and pressure from the US. Sky News host Paul Murray said Albanese's attempt to draw similarities between present day and the Curtin-era was 'taking the piss'. 'What I did find offensive about the suggestion from the speech on Saturday was, "Oh, well, this is just like John Curtin. We know how to balance things",' he said. 'The only reason we need to build up our military is because of China, not because of America.' Meanwhile, Nationals Senator Matt Canavan called on Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong to be more transparent about their foreign policy strategy. 'I think the Australian people deserve to know, does the Albanese government view America as the most important friend and ally to our country... which has been the case since John Curtin made that shift,' he told Sky News. 'Or do they think we should replace the United States with the likes of a dictatorial communist regime in Beijing?' Opposition Leader Sussan Ley also criticised the Curtin speech, saying Albanese needed to do more to build on the alliance in the United States. 'At a time of global uncertainty, growing conflict and a growing list of issues in the Australia-United States relationship, now is a time to build our influence in Washington, not diminish it,' Ley said in a statement. 'Many Australians will wonder whether this speech at this time was in our national interest, given so many things crucial to Australia's future are currently being considered by the US administration.' It is understood that artificial intelligence, healthcare and a revised trade agreement will be top of the agenda when Albanese meets with his Chinese counterpart. It has also been reported the PM will address the potential sale of Darwin Port. In 2015, Chinese company Landbridge secured a 99-year lease over Darwin Port in a deal struck by the Northern Territory's then-Country Liberal Government, at a time when Anthony Albanese was serving as the federal infrastructure minister.
News.com.au
04-07-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
Anthony Albanese pays tribute to former Labor prime minister John Curtin for standing up to US, UK
Anthony Albanese will pay homage to former Labor prime minister John Curtin as not just the leader who founded Australia's alliance with the US, but one who stood up against allied super powers, in pointed comments amid concerns over Australia's relationship with America. Mr Curtin's leadership, which lasted between 1941 to 1945, lasted during the Pacific War and the bombing of Darwin and Broome by the Japanese. He died while in office, before peace was declared. In a speech to mark the 80th anniversary of Mr Curtin's death on Saturday, the Prime Minister will credit the Labor figure with forging Australia's long-held alliance with the United States. However Mr Albanese will also note Mr Curtin's decision to stand up to the US and the United Kingdom, then led by Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill his decision not to send Australian troops to then Burma, now Myanmar, in what would have been days before it fell to the Japanese. 'Hundreds if not thousands of Australians would have been killed, or taken prisoner. It would have been a disaster every bit as crushing to national morale as the fall of Singapore,' Mr Albanese is expected to tell attendees at Sydney's John Curtin Research Centre. Mr Albanese will note that while the Australian-US alliance 'ought to be remembered as a product of Curtin's leadership in defence and foreign policy, not the extent of it'. Instead, he will say that Mr Curtin had the 'confidence and determination to think and act for ourselves'. 'Because Curtin's famous statement that Australia 'looked to America' was much more than the idea of trading one strategic guarantor for another. Or swapping an alliance with the old world for one with the new,' he will say. 'It was a recognition that Australia's fate would be decided in our region. It followed the decision Curtin had made in 1941 that Australia would issue its own declaration of war with Japan. 'Speaking for ourselves, as a sovereign nation.' His remarks come as the Albanese government is currently under pressure by the Trump administration to amp up defence spending to 3.5 per cent, comes amid concerns of fragile global stability and claims from US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth that China would imminently invade Beijing. Mr Albanese has frequently rejected US pressure to amp up defence spending, stating that investment will be calculated according to Australia's needs. Labor is also under pressure to negotiate a tariff carveout, however on Friday he said he believed the levy applied to non steel and aluminium imports would remain at 10 per cent after Donald Trump's July 9 deadline. Mr Albanese is also set to champion to 'rights and the role of middle powers and smaller nations' and speak to the importance of collective responsibility in the Indo-Pacific, despite fears of China's increasing aggression in the area. Ensuring that the 'sovereignty of every nation is respected and the dignity of every individual is upheld' is another priority. He will say his government will continue to rebuild Australia 'standing as a leader and partner in the Pacific,' deepen economic engagement in South East Asia, while 'patiently and deliberately working to stabilise our relationship with China'.
