Australia’s defence strategy is America.

Let’s get that out of the way at the beginning. No America. No national security guarantee. You can hate this, love it, or live in denial but it is a truth as immutable as biological gender.

This is why many geopolitical observers are worried about the petulant approach of the Australian leadership toward America. Not to mention comments from the pilot-fish parties circling Albanese’s throne. When it comes to Defence, the Greens and Teals are about as helpful as Antifa tossing bricks at police.

Seriously, what is their Defence plan if America walks away from the Pacific? Hold up a few solar panels? Plant a forest of offshore wind turbines near the coast and hope any approaching armadas get stuck? Start a crocodile breeding program in the North?

The advertised criticism of Trump’s detractors is that he puts America ‘first’. Tell me, where does Xi Jinping place China?

Currently, the Israel-Palestine conflict is being used as a means for the Left to justify breaking with America. Which is all kinds of crazy. Threats against Israel have turned into sanctions, which led Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, to publicly admonish Australia.

The United States condemns the sanctions imposed by the governments of the United Kingdom, Canada, Norway, New Zealand, and Australia on two sitting members of the Israeli cabinet. These sanctions do not advance US-led efforts to achieve a ceasefire, bring all hostages home, and end the war. We reject any notion of equivalence: Hamas is a terrorist organisation that committed unspeakable atrocities, continues to hold innocent civilians hostage, and prevents the people of Gaza from living in peace. We remind our partners not to forget who the real enemy is. The United States urges the reversal of the sanctions and stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel.

In response, social media has been flooded with Australian ministers and senators big-noting themselves on the world stage with the same cringe as French President Macron when he fumbled around between Trump, Putin, and Zelenskyy.

For example, do we really need this in the public domain from the leader of the Greens?

‘The pettiness of two terrible men shouldn’t distract us from the truth: oligarchies are dangerous. A criminal emboldening hate, extremism, and racism and a fascist billionaire shouldn’t be leading a country. And Australia’s democracy should not be beholden to billionaires. Hate, sexism, racism, and fascism have no place in 2025. While the US President and his former bestie squabble on social media, civilians in Gaza continue to die, as Israel’s genocide continues unabated. And these men have the audacity to ask us to spend more on Defence, to help them destabilise the world further. End Aukus!’

Please. Describe the Utopian leadership of these Islamic theocracies and republics for us. The tunnel-vision is pathological.

Greens Senator David Shoebridge, who has been rambling anti-American commentary online for ages, recklessly added:

‘Australia has, for too long, allowed Pine Gap and Defence facilities in Darwin to operate as de facto US territories. It’s time we put a stop to that. Labor and the Coalition say having US troops stationed here makes us safer. The Greens say it is a major national security risk. Donald Trump is erratic, reckless, and careless of America’s allies and alliances, but he does have one fairly constant trait, he puts US interests first. If only Australian decision makers did the same for us.’

Personally, I am more worried about China’s interest in the Port of Darwin. What are our chances of reclaiming control of that piece of critical Defence infrastructure if we kick America out of Pine Gap? Do any of these politicians think beyond the character limit of their tweets?

With the lion successfully prodded, the inevitable has happened. Donald Trump has ordered a review of Aukus to be headed by Elbridge Colby. America wants to make sure the project aligns with the ‘America First’ message.

The sticking point is America’s demand that Aukus partners spend an appropriate amount on their defence. A fair share, one might say. The problem for Labor is they have blown the Treasury on election deals and left Defence coming up short despite knowing in advance they were locked-in to certain expectations.

In response, Labor Defence Minister Richard Marles said:

‘You just need to look at the map to understand that Australia absolutely needs to have a long-range submarine capability … this is a multi-decade plan. There will be governments that come and go and I think whenever we see a new government, a review of this kind is going to be something which will be undertaken.’

True, this deal was signed by Joe Biden, who may or may not remember the event.

The problem with Elbridge Colby heading the review is his hostility to the arrangement, having earlier voiced criticism of the US parting with highly valuable nuclear-powered submarines. Unlike Albanese, he does not shy away from the need to contain China.

Former Prime Minister Paul Keating, famous for his pro-China stance, released a statement titled: Aukus: America saving us from ourselves.

‘The decision by the United States to initiate a review of the Aukus agreement might very well be the moment Washington saves Australia from itself … if the Americans scratch Aukus, they will achieve what they have been after all along: no risk to the pilfering of their nuclear propulsion technology, no Los Angeles class submarines for Australia, but success in turning the Australian land mass into a US nuclear-armed fort pointed against China … Aukus will be shown for what it always has been: a deal hurriedly scribbled on the back of an envelope by Scott Morrison, along with the vacuous British blowhard Boris Johnson and the confused President, Joe Biden – put together on an English beach, a world away from where Australia’s strategic interests primarily lie.’

The good news is that Keating is about as relevant as a videotape at a Livestream.

President of the NSW Libertarians, Ross Cameron, put it better: ‘Very brave of Albo to sanction an American ally on the eve of Aukus review.’

Labor, Greens, and the Teals are pretty cocky about dismissing Australia’s defence relationship with America. Understandably so. Those of a socialist inclination do not enjoy living in the shadow of a (more successful) capitalist empire. Especially not when the President is busy proving that the economy can be repaired by axing vast segments of the bureaucracy.

Donald Trump has shown that the decline of the West was a political choice related to so-called progressive thought, not a foregone conclusion.

Our leaders will never forgive him for that.

Trump has closed the borders. Started deporting criminals (much to the annoyance of Californian Governor Gavin Newsom). Has deleted the budgets of green technology. Shaken the exploitative global trade system to its core. And put some duct-tape over the holes in the Treasury leading to foreign aid and subversive political interference. He also set up a pump to drain the swamp and stationed a team of Alabama wildlife wranglers nearby.

Western citizens can reasonably expect similar measures to save their economies. It is a logic which runs contrary to the general idea of milking the taxpayer for all they’re worth before abandoning a dependent and dysfunctional mess to the conservatives for 20 years of thankless austerity.

That aside, even a weak-socialist should be able to understand basic geopolitical mathematics.

Australia is a middle power, or we were a middle power. Governments of both colours have spent the last 60 years spending a fortune on the machine of defence rather than practical defence weaponry.

Just like our bike ramps, stadiums, and public buildings, everything commissioned for Defence is over-engineered, over-priced, an under (or un) delivered.

In those 60 years we have spent, conservatively and adjusted for inflation, at least $1.4 trillion. How is it possible that we are in a worse position now than at the end of the second world war?

There simply is not enough scrutiny on this failure. Everyone is to blame and so no one in Canberra wants to talk about it and those who should talk about it are frightened that China will yell at them if they do.

This country is under the thumb of foreign interests, for sure, but not the US. The US is trying to help us limp along, patching our wounds and strapping our injuries so we can stand beside them and not look wholly ridiculous.

Our Defence forces, made up of exceptional men and women, deserve far better than the politicians responsible for their weapons.

Canberra’s negligence endangers lives.

Our Defence forces deserve better than to have our national security arrangements with America undermined by left-wing politicians who are either gazing at the spread of communism through the Pacific with a kind of child-like wonder or think they can win domestic points at the next election with migrants who dislike America because of an ideological struggle in the nations they fled.

These politicians should be ashamed of themselves.