Australia is being warned to avoid relying solely on its alliance with the United States as the Indo Pacific region grows more contested.
As Anthony Albanese returns home after his White House meeting with Donald Trump, former US envoy Arthur Sinodinos says the federal government must strengthen its partnerships with other nations, arguing global politics is becoming increasingly transactional.
“We are in a world where our main alliance partner is America first. We want to try and make sure it’s not America only,” Mr Sinodinos told AAP.
The senator turned ambassador used a speech to the Sir John Monash Foundation in Sydney on Wednesday night to outline the policy changes he believes are needed to bolster Australia’s position in the world.
“Australia has to think about how it strengthens not just the alliance with the US, but creates other options in terms of its relationships with allies and partners in the region,” he said.
“In that context, we need to be as economically strong as possible.”
Mr Sinodinos suggested the government should do more to incentivise an “innovation culture” so inventions developed in Australia were commercialised here, not sold overseas.
He said there could be economic and strategic benefits to boosting onshore innovation.
“Many of the technologies we’re talking about today are dual-use technologies,” he said.
“They can be both civil or military in their application.”
Mr Sinodinos said the government should consider ways to improve cooperation between the commercial and university sectors, to foster new developments.
While Labor had done some work, it needed to move faster to ensure it didn’t cede advantages to China and other countries, the former ambassador said.
“We’ve really got to put the pedal to the metal,” he said.
“It’s a bit like a boiling frog, right? Things are deteriorating… it’s all going in one direction.”
Mr Sinodinos said that sense of urgency should also apply to the critical minerals deal struck between Australia and the US, in which both countries will pour at least $1 billion into minerals extraction and processing projects within the next six months.
“It’s all in the execution,” he said.
“We’ve got to drive this, becuse the US has lots of options, lots of countries… talking about being partners on critical minerals.”
Australian Associated Press is the beating heart of Australian news. AAP is Australia’s only independent national newswire and has been delivering accurate, reliable and fast news content to the media industry, government and corporate sector for 85 years. We keep Australia informed.
