Opposition frontbencher Andrew Hastie has called for a rethink of the US alliance, saying Australia has “weakened our hard power” by outsourcing security.
In a speech to the Robert Menzies Institute overnight, the special forces veteran said architects of the ANZUS Treaty could not have foreseen “the rise of an overtly transactional president like Donald Trump, who operates unmoored from political norms and conventions”.
He warned Australia was lulled into a false sense of security following the Cold War by embracing globalisation and betting “long on the dominance of the United States”.
“And we forgot the lessons applied by the generations of Australians who lived the harsh reality of the Second World War,” Mr Hastie said.
“Deindustrialisation swiftly followed. Our advanced manufacturing sector collapsed, along with our defence industry and refining capacity.
“We stopped making complex things of value at scale. We lost our industrial teeth.”
With Australia’s security guaranteed under the ANZUS Treaty, he said the country also lost its military nous that decades on was hamstringing the Australian Defence Force’s ability to meet war pact commitments.
“To put it bluntly, if ANZUS is going to continue for another 75 years, we need to invest in our industrial base and our defence force,” he said.
“For the last 30 years, we have neglected our commitment in Article II to develop our means of ‘continuous and effective self-help’ so that we can defend ourselves and our partners.”
That included digging and refining more oil in Australia as well as getting “AI hyper-scalers and chipmakers to invest and build here, on our soil, so we can hold them accountable to our sovereign laws, needs and interests”.
“The AI revolution is coming whether we like it or not,” Mr Hastie said.
“We can’t sit idle at the end of our submarine cables, and hope powerful oligarchs in Silicon Valley will do the right thing by the Australian people.”
Mr Trump has repeatedly called out Australia for not doing more to help in the Strait of Hormuz.
The maritime chokepoint has been effectively closed since the start of the Iran war, cutting a fifth of the world’s oil supply and pushed fuel prices to historic highs.
Mr Hastie has claimed that Australia could not help clear the strait because its warships were unable to defend against Iranian drones.
But Navy Chief Vice Admiral Mark Hammond last week pushed back against that claim, insisting the Navy “is as ready as it ever has been” if it needed to deploy.
“We’ve got 10 surface combatants right now. Eight of them are at sea today,” he told reporters.
“And they are fitted with one of the most advanced radars in the world … and some of the most advanced missile and point defence systems in the world.
“Are they capable of performing the mission?
“As (Chief of the Defence Force) Admiral Johnston said last week – absolutely.”
This week, the top American admiral for the Indo-Pacific also said the US could run nuclear-powered submarines out of Australia “tomorrow” and praised progress in preparing Western Australia’s HMAS Stirling to host US and UK naval rotations from next year.
“To have a rotational base in the Indian Ocean is absolutely essential,” he told a congressional committee.
“HMAS Stirling is on track for the rotational force that will arrive here in Perth in a little over a year.
“Between the pier, the shore power, the facilities with the tender and a marine security company, we could be ready today to operate a rotational submarine squadron out of Australia tomorrow.”
He added that “Australian submariners are performing well on the ships” as well as “in the schools”.
“And in every regard, in pillar 1, we’re on track,” he said, referring to the US’ ability to supply three Virginia-class submarines to Australia early next decade.
https://thewest.com.au/news/andrew-hastie-calls-for-us-alliance-rethink-says-australias-hard-power-weakened-c-22187437
