Piers Akerman: As Israel brings Iran to account, Australia must put skin in defence spend game
Albanese needs to ditch his government’s childish anti-American views if the US-Australian alliance is to thrive, writes Piers Akerman.
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Israel’s daring attack on the murderous authoritarian mullahs of the Islamic Republic of Iran should bring Australia’s lackadaisical approach to defence into sharp focus.
Smashing those who have for 46 years threatened their destruction, the Israelis have demonstrated what a tiny country can do when under the threat of existential war. Today, Australia is under greater threat than it was on February 18, 1942, the day before the Japanese began its nine-month bombing of Darwin.
The Japanese were part of the World War II authoritarian axis of evil with Nazi Germany and fascist Italy. Australian naval forces had fought Italians in June 1940, Germans in the Battle of Britain in August and September that year, and faced Germans and Italians in North Africa in 1941.
Now another axis of evil is a threat to global peace and the US is stretched, as is our alliance.
In Europe, Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin has lost about one million troops in his bid to conquer Ukraine.
In the Middle East, Iran-backed Islamist terrorists are trying to wipe Israel from the map. China, closer to Australia than Japan, is allied with Russia, North Korea and Iran. President Xi Jinping, who wants to conquer Taiwan by 2027, has had warships lapping Australia while firing live rounds and permitted challenges to our aircraft and ships in international waters. Our last wartime prime minister, Labor’s John Curtin, welcomed the US as our principal defender.
Current PM Anthony Albanese, who hopes to meet US President Donald Trump this week in Canada, is not the statesman Curtin was. Albanese, his deputy, Defence Minister Richard Marles; Foreign Minister Penny Wong, and our ambassador to Washington, Kevin Rudd, waddle the world stage like babies with packed nappies.
A fortnight ago, Marles and US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth met in Singapore to discuss key priorities for the US-Australia alliance. After their talks, Marles omitted mentioning the key element of their discussion. The US revealed all hours later. “Secretary Hegseth conveyed that Australia should increase its defence spending to 3.5 per cent of its GDP as soon as possible,” the State Department said.
Australia spends about 2 per cent of GDP on defence. Marles didn’t want you to know the US wanted Australia to put skin in the game – now.
In March, Trump gave Iran 60 days to halt its nuclear program. Last week, the clock ran down and Israel acted, killing Iran’s Revolutionary Guard chief Hossein Salami and senior IRGC officials responsible for promoting global terror.
Nuclear facilities were attacked and scientists engaged in Iran’s illegal nuclear enrichment program were killed. The Albanese government repeatedly refused to support Israel’s struggle to protect its borders.
Instead, it urged dialogue with the terrorists as Wong sent millions of taxpayer dollars to organisations such as UNRWA, which employed Hamas members involved in the atrocities.
Without conducting thorough security checks, about 3000 Gazans were issued Australian visas after October 7’s invasion, though the Gazan population was supportive of the Hamas atrocities.
In a move condemned by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Australia and other weak-kneed nations – the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Norway – sanctioned two Israeli cabinet ministers. Rubio said “these sanctions do not advance US-led efforts to achieve a ceasefire, bring all hostages home, and end the war”.
Trump has already met Syria’s new President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former terrorist leader, but he hasn’t met Albanese.
We can only hope Trump makes time for our Left-wing leader, but Albanese needs to ditch his government’s childish anti-American views if the alliance is to thrive.
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Originally published as Piers Akerman: As Israel brings Iran to account, Australia must put skin in defence spend game
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