Albanese on US alliance: ‘We aren’t subservient’

Anthony Albanese has declared Australia must not be subservient to its allies as his government pushes back on a possible US demand to guarantee the use of AUKUS submarines in any conflict with China on the eve of his trip to that country.

In remarks from a private question-and-answer session after a speech on Saturday, where the prime minister was emphasising Australian sovereignty, Albanese said the US alliance was crucial before going further than his prepared remarks.

Anthony Albanese says Australia holds the US as an important ally, but is not subserviant.Credit: Nine

“In the strategic competition that’s there in the world, we’re with the United States,” Albanese said at the John Curtin Research Centre. “We’re with democratic countries. We don’t shy away from that at all, of where our alliances are.

“I’m a supporter of AUKUS, that’s important,” Albanese said in a recording obtained by this masthead. “But that doesn’t mean that we are subservient to any other country.”

Albanese’s talk was delivered as the government encounters pressure from the US on tariffs, defence spending and the AUKUS pact that is under review by a senior Pentagon official, and noted China hawk, Elbridge Colby.

This masthead reported on Thursday that Colby, the under-secretary of defence for policy, had told Australian sources that the nation should give a public declaration or private guarantee that US-made nuclear submarines it receives from the AUKUS pact would be used in a possible conflict with China.

The demand is contentious as it would limit Australia’s sovereignty. It is not yet clear if such a demand would form part of the review’s recommendations, with foreign policy chaos a feature of the Trump administration.

A spokesman for the Australian Defence Department said the government had “made clear [that] Australia will always make sovereign, independent decisions based on Australia’s national interest, including what capabilities Australia acquires and how they are employed.”

The department also emphasised how critical AUKUS was to the US. As part of the pact, Australia is investing billions in American shipbuilding and providing access to a submarine base in Western Australia that will allow US boats to operate in the Indian Ocean without having to pass through waters in south-east Asia.

“Australia and the United States have a shared view of challenges facing the Indo-Pacific, and we take seriously our role as a trusted and capable ally,” the department spokesman said.

Australia’s efforts in engaging with Colby’s review, which is in its early stages and likely to report back in weeks or months, rather than the 30-day timeline first reported, are being led by US ambassador Kevin Rudd and defence officials, including deputy secretary of strategy, policy, and industry Hugh Jeffrey.

Opposition frontbencher James Paterson said Australia’s “negligent or passive” diplomacy with the US was putting AUKUS at risk.

“I think they are taking our American friends for granted,” Paterson said on Sky News.

The Trump administration sparked another bout of trade worries when he said on Wednesday that he might impose a 200 per cent tariff on pharmaceuticals at the same time as announcing a 50 per cent tariff on copper to start in August.

China is trying to take advantage of the US’s anti-trade turn, offering other nations commercial avenues in areas like tech and artificial intelligence. China’s ambassador in Australia told The Australian Financial Review earlier this week that Australia and China should link up on AI, drawing a cool response from Australian ministers after years of concern about Chinese apps such as TikTok and DeepSeek and Chinese telecommunications company Huawei being banned from participating in Australia’s 5G network rollout in 2018 due to national security concerns.

At the event in Sydney last weekend, Albanese also talked up his six-day visit to China that begins on Saturday by paying tribute to Chinese Australians.

“The other asset we have here, of course, is a diaspora that connects us with every country on earth,” Albanese said.

“I will lead a delegation of business leaders with the [Business Council of Australia] … This time next week, I’ll be in Shanghai convening a meeting with business leaders.”

The prime minister’s office was contacted for comment.

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