Australia’s place questioned after NATO ‘family photo’
A picture snapped at the start of this week’s crucial NATO summit has brought Australia’s place into question.
National
Don't miss out on the headlines from National. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Australia’s position in the global pecking order has been questioned after the traditional NATO “family photo” was released this week — showing our representative so far back he’s practically falling off the edge of the picture.
It shows Australian representative, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, standing in the back right of three rows of world leaders – far away from US President Donald Trump.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s decision to send his deputy instead of attending himself has come in for more wide criticism, considering the state of global security and pressure to finally meet with Mr Trump to discuss tariffs.
Australia is not a member of NATO, which stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, but the Prime Minister previously attended summits in 2022 and 2023.
While many of his counterparts were meeting in The Hague, Mr Albanese was this week campaigning in Tasmania as the Apple Isle heads toward a state election.
Today host Karl Stefanovic on Wednesday grilled Treasurer Jim Chalmers about the Prime Minister’s decision not to attend the NATO summit.
“I cant quite comprehend how Albo isn’t in The Hague rattling Donald trump’s cage for a meeting,” Stefanovic put to Mr Chalmers.
“We are well represented there by the Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, who is also the Defence Minister,” the Treasurer said.
“The Prime Minister engages regularly and enthusiastically with world leaders including in Canada (at the G7 summit) just last week.
“There will be other opportunities for us to meet with our American counterparts.”
Stefanovic, in response, asked: “what could be more important right now than our Prime Minister meeting with the President? Look at what’s at stake for this country”.
He continued to press Mr Chalmers on the Prime Minister’s inability to so far secure a face-to-face with the US President, saying: “Donald Trump’s just not that into Albo is he?”
“I don’t know how you want me to respond to that, Karl,” the Treasurer replied.
“They’ve had a number of discussions including a very warm discussion after Prime Minister Albanese was returned for a second term … they’ve had discussions about trade and tariffs.”
In a significant move, NATO members agreed to lift defence spending to five per cent of GDP after lobbying from the Trump administration.
“Allies commit to invest 5 per cent of GDP annually on core defence requirements as well as defence- and security-related spending by 2035 to ensure our individual and collective obligations,” NATO member leaders said in a joint statement.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has previously spoken about America’s desire for Australia to lift its spending to 3.5 per cent, which the government has resisted.
The Albanese government announced on Thursday it would – at the request of NATO and Poland – deploy a E-7A Wedgetail aircraft in August to help protect humanitarian gateways.
Up to 100 Australian Defence Force personnel would be deployed alongside the aircraft in an operation expected to be completed in November, as part of the ongoing support efforts for Ukraine.
“Australia is proud of its longstanding operational partnership with NATO,” Mr Marles said.
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher on Thursday told ABC News Breakfast the NATO summit was “an important meeting at an important time” and backed Mr Marles’ involvement.
As for whether Australia was under pressure to raise its defence spending, she said “we’ve put billions of dollars into defence.
“We understand the environment we’re working in,” Ms Gallagher said. “We take the advice of our agencies seriously.
“When they come to us and say, this is the capability we need, and this is the – the funding that’s required, we have provided that funding and that’s the approach we’ll continue to take.”
Trump hails ‘monumental win’ for the US
Mr Trump hailed the massive ramp up in defence spending as a “monumental win” for America and reaffirmed his country’s commitment to protect its European allies.
Mr Trump cut a jubilant figure after NATO’s 32 countries agreed to his headline target following two days of talks in The Hague.
Taking credit for a “fantastic” outcome that “no one really thought possible”, Mr Trump described the spending hike as “a monumental win for the United States”.
Mr Trump also signed off on a final declaration confirming an “ironclad commitment” to NATO’s collective defence pledge that an attack on one is an attack on all — a reassuring move for European countries worried about Russia.
The US leader has repeatedly suggested Washington could withhold protection from European countries unwilling to spend more on defence.
The compromise hatched by NATO sees countries promise to dedicate 3.5 percent of GDP to core military spending by 2035, and a further 1.5 to broader security-related areas such as infrastructure.
Spain had been refusing to agree and while it signed the pledge it has said it thinks it can fulfil NATO’s demands while spending less — Mr Trump threatening on Wednesday to hit its trade interests in response.
But the pledge endorsed in The Hague allows Mr Trump to claim triumph, while in practice providing wiggle room for cash-strapped governments in Europe.
‘Couldn’t have been nicer’
Everything was choreographed at the gathering to keep the volatile US president on board: from chopping back the official part of the meeting, to putting him up overnight in the royal palace.
Underpinning the leaders’ discussions on defence was Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, with the summit’s final statement referring to the “long-term threat posed by Russia to Euro-Atlantic security”.
Though its language was watered down from previous years, the declaration also said allies would continue to support Ukraine, “whose security contributes to ours”, and allies will be allowed to use money from the new pledge for military aid for Kyiv.
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky played a less central role than at previous summits -- with leaders wary of any embarrassment after an infamous row with Trump during a visit to the Oval Office.
But the US president did meet the war-torn country’s leader on the summit sidelines, declaring afterwards the encounter “couldn’t have been nicer” and Mr Zelensky hailing a “substantive” meeting.
Mr Trump also said he was talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the war, adding: “I think progress is being made.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also met Mr Zelensky along with a group of other European leaders, saying afterwards he hoped to “use the momentum from the summit to continue to step up support for Ukraine”.
NATO chief Mark Rutte, also present at the Starmer meeting, renewed a promise that Ukraine’s bid for membership remained “irreversible”, but the summit statement avoided any mention of Kyiv’s push to join after Trump ruled it out.
‘Not a rip-off’
Mr Trump had rattled allies on the summit’s eve by appearing to cast some doubt on the validity of NATO’s mutual defence clause — known as Article Five of the alliance treaty.
But the pledge was reaffirmed unequivocally in the summit’s final statement — and Mr Trump drove the point home at his closing press conference.
“I came here because it was something I’m supposed to be doing,” Mr Trump said in closing remarks to the press, when pressed on the mutual defence clause known as Article Five.
“But I left here a little bit differently,” said the US leader — who was visibly delighted at the red carpet welcome and the praise lavished on him by NATO’s Mr Rutte among others.
“Without the United States, they couldn’t really have NATO. Wouldn’t work,” Trump said. “It will in the future, because now they’re paying much more money.”
Originally published as Australia’s place questioned after NATO ‘family photo’
Explained: How new solar battery rebate can save you thousands
A new 30 per cent rebate for solar batteries will drastically bring the price of taking solar-powered homes off grid. Here’s everything you need to know.
Gmail glitch leaves state students in lurch
A technical glitch has left thousands of students in one Aussie state in the lurch, after emails containing their school reports were deemed “spam”.