Anthony Albanese urged to reassure Donald Trump after Curtin speech

Former ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos has urged the Albanese government to assure the Trump administration it is not going its own way on foreign policy.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Donald Trump. Pictures: Getty Images, AP Photo

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Former ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos has urged the Albanese government to assure the Trump administration it is not going its own way on foreign policy, amid concerns a weekend speech by Anthony Albanese will be viewed negatively in Washington as AUKUS is being reviewed.

Mr Sinodinos called for a diplomatic charm offensive after the Prime Minister hailed John Curtin for pursuing an independent foreign policy that was “not bound by tradition”.

Mr Albanese’s speech, at the John Curtin Research Centre on Saturday, identified the former prime minister’s role in establishing Australia’s alliance with the US during World War II.

While he called the alliance a “pillar of our foreign policy” and “our most important defence and security partnership”, Mr Albanese also declared it was “not the extent” of Curtin’s foreign policy agenda.

“Because Curtin’s famous statement that Australia ‘looked to America’ was much more than the idea of trading one strategic guarantor for another. Or swapping an alliance with the old world for one with the new,” Mr Albanese said in the speech.

“It was a recognition that Australia’s fate would be decided in our region.”

Mr Albanese will travel to China at the end of the week and is expected to have his fourth meeting with Xi Jinping before securing one with Donald Trump.

Anthony Albanese takes a 'selfie' with the crowd after the International Test match between Australia’s Wallabies and Fiji on Sunday. Picture: Getty Images

While Mr Sinodinos defended the content of the speech, he said the context of the relationship with the Trump administration – including the review of AUKUS and a failure to secure a leader-to-leader meeting – made a “careful explanation” necessary.

“Given the context of Australia-US relations at present, the speech will need careful explanation to our American friends to avoid a misconception that was hyped that the speech would be a declaration of independence from the US,” Mr Sinodinos said.

Arthur Sinodinos. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

“The speech is about Australia taking foreign policy decisions in its own interest including turning to the US in World War II, and frames that pivot in terms of our security interest in the region.

“The speech makes clear that the alliance has bipartisan support in Australia.”

Sussan Ley questioned the timing of Mr Albanese’s speech on Saturday night, arguing the relationship with Washington “remains as much in our national interest today as it did during John Curtin’s prime ministership”.

“Many Australians will wonder whether this speech at this time was in our national interest, given so many things crucial to Australia’s future are currently being considered by the US administration,” the Opposition Leader said.

“At a time of global uncertainty, growing conflict and a growing list of issues in the Australia-United States relationship, now is a time to build our influence in Washington, not diminish it.”

In the speech, Mr Albanese referenced Curtin’s willingness to have a foreign policy “anchored in strategic reality, not bound by tradition”.

“Dealing with the world as it is, not as we would like it to be,” he said. “So we remember Curtin not just because he looked to America. We honour him because he spoke for Australia. For Australia and for Labor, that independence has never meant isolationism.”

The speech made no mention of AUKUS but talked up Australia’s support for multilateralism, rebuilding the China relationship and the role of middle powers and smaller nations rather than a “great-power peace”.

Former Department of Home Affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo warned last year that anyone seeking to “appropriate Curtin’s legacy in a performative display to demonstrate their credibility on defence” could not limit their appreciation to admiring only what the former prime minister achieved as a wartime leader.

He suggested a modern-day Curtin would speak out about the threat posed by China and argue for greater defence self-reliance, and for at least 3 per cent of GDP to be spent on defence.

Following Mr Albanese’s address on Saturday evening, Mr Pezzullo told The Australian “Curtin’s pre-war political courage should have also been applauded”.

“As leader of the opposition after 1935, Curtin decided that Labor would campaign in the 1937 federal election on the need to strengthen Australia’s local defences – including by expanding the army and the RAAF,” Mr Pezzullo said. “In this he was prescient, but in losing the 1937 election he could not put his policies into action.

“Although he abhorred war, Curtin thought deeply about defence strategy for the whole time that he was leader of the opposition (1935-40), before he was thrust into the prime ministership after war had broken out.

“We are living through similar times, with the credible, tragic prospect of a looming war in the Pacific.

“Curtin’s example regarding national defence preparedness and mobilisation speaks to us today. But that lesson unfortunately was missing from Mr Albanese’s speech.”

US President Donald Trump at a rally kicking off the July Fourth holiday weekend in Iowa. Picture: Getty Images

Strategic Analysis Australia director Michael Shoebridge said the speech was a “very strange political construct at a very weird time”.

“He is trying to evoke Curtin as this powerful Labor security leader and use it mainly to say how great it was that Curtin knew how to stick it to the Americans, and he would too,” Mr Shoebridge said.

“Curtin knew that American power was fundamental to our security (but) Albanese is trying to say ‘just like Curtin I will go my own way with the Americans’.”

Mr Shoebridge said the speech was problematic given the Albanese government’s failure to adequately invest in defence capabilities.

“The other big problem is he has given this speech just before he is flying to Beijing to have his fourth face-to-face meeting with Xi Jinping when he hasn’t met once with Trump,” he said.

“There is a review of AUKUS under way in Washington right now and two of the factors in America’s minds (will be): Are we pulling our weight on defence (and) are we a reliable ally or are we a bit capricious? This speech seems to underline that second risk.”