Malcolm Turnbull’s recent Foreign Affairs essay, America’s Allies Must Save Themselves, is a good intervention in the debate about Donald Trump’s impact on global order. Australia’s dependence on the US does not end with Trump.
Turnbull writes well about the collapse of US credibility, the erosion of trust among allies, and the need for countries like Australia to build sovereign autonomy in a multipolar world.
But as welcome as that is, Turnbull doesn’t go far enough. Australia’s dependence on the United States didn’t start with Trump and won’t end with him.
Our alignment with the US is not just strategic or military. It’s systemic. It’s economic, institutional and ideological. The Trump presidency — both the first and second time around — has just exposed what’s been true for a long time: Australia is a semi-peripheral state. We’re a rich country per capita, but a dependent one in terms of economic structure, technological capacity and foreign policy autonomy. This dependence shows up in many ways:
- A foreign-owned resource economy geared to low-value exports.
- A defence architecture that imports power projection without building local resilience.
- A trade policy framework that prioritises liberalisation over nation-building.
- A political culture that treats American leadership as fixed rather than contingent.
AUKUS and the empty promises it’s made about nuclear submarines have become the symbol of this. The idea that sovereignty can be bought via procurement deals, strategic loyalty, or access to US platforms has led us down a dangerous path. Turnbull is right to point out the impossibility of the submarine transfer under current US industrial conditions. But the problem goes deeper than timetables or production backlogs. We’re no longer building a defence force for Australia – we’re building one for America’s Indo-Pacific strategies.
And worse, our economic dependence reinforces the illusion of strategic independence. Australia has built a model of prosperity based on foreign capital, foreign ownership, and external demand, particularly from China. But we’re increasingly outsourcing our geopolitical judgment to Washington. That’s not sovereignty. That’s subcontracted security.
Turnbull’s call for “sovereign autonomy” is necessary. But it has to go beyond weapons systems. It has to include sovereign economic capabilities, regional diplomacy led from Canberra, not Washington, and a reassertion of public purpose in areas long surrendered to market logic.
If Trump is indeed the “new normal” in US politics — as Turnbull says — then the task is even bigger than he lets on. The age of American benevolence, such as it was, is over. But so too is the idea of strategic subordination masquerading as alliance. Hope may be a dangerous comforter as Turnbull says, but so too is nostalgia. Nostalgia for a postwar order that never was, and never served Australia as well as we thought.
The job ahead is not just to defend what’s left of the US-led international order. It’s to shape what comes next. For Australia, that means taking responsibility for our own economic future, diplomatic posture and defence priorities. It means recognising we’re not a proxy power in someone else’s empire, but a nation that can act with regional foresight and global intent.
The long American century may be ending. The Australian one has yet to begin. But it won’t come from loyalty or luck. It will require courage, clarity, and a break from the dependencies that have defined us for too long.
The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Tanea.com.au.
By Stewart Sweeney
Stewart Sweeney is a writer and public policy advocate with a longstanding interest in the evolution and future of capitalism. He migrated from Scotland to Adelaide in 1975 to work with Premier Don Dunstan on industrial democracy. A former academic and trade unionist, he continues to contribute to public debate on economic justice, democratic reform, and sustainable development. His work reflects a deep commitment to the common good and the role of public purpose in shaping Australia’s future.
