In insecure times, it pays to look at the bigger picture

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Picture: Prime Minister's Office

Boris Johnson and Prince Charles lobbied Anthony Albanese personally to attend last week’s Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Rwanda, but the Prime Minister handballed the job to his deputy, Richard Marles, so he could focus on this week’s NATO summit in Madrid.

His decision is no surprise. The meeting, beginning on Tuesday, is the alliance’s biggest yet; a demonstration of its resolute support for Ukraine, and abhorrence of Russian aggression.

The meeting will set out a new strategic position for the 30-member alliance on the Russian threat, but also – for the first time – on China.

Albanese is attending the summit with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol

The key Indo-Pacific partners have everything to gain from aligning more closely with NATO.

China’s annual military spending is four times that of Russia’s, and Xi Jinping’s “no limits” partnership with Vladimir Putin, agreed on the eve of the Tokyo Olympics, confirms its deep antagonism against the democratic world.

As a nation of 25 million in the centre of the Indo-Pacific, Australia’s security depends on rock-solid alliances.

ANZUS and the Quad are the nation’s core security partnerships, but Chinese and Russian threats have brought the world’s democracies closer than ever.

NATO is the world’s largest and most successful security grouping, and while Ukraine is not an organisation member, the alliance has poured billions of dollars in weapons and humanitarian aid into the country. Australia may sweep the medal tally in the Commonwealth Games but it needs more powerful friends in insecure times.