Opinion | Death knell sounds for Australian diplomacy in the region after US ministerial talks

The Australia–US Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN) have effectively confirmed Australia’s status as a client state of the United States. This is a significant change from its previous status of a friend and ally, because it hands a large slice of Australian sovereignty to a foreign power.

The degree of military integration agreed on by US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin and Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles suggests that future decisions around conflicts in the region are likely to be made by the US and rubber stamped by Australia.

This will have a major impact on how Australia is able to shape relations with Asian nations, especially China. Australia is important in the region, although perhaps not as important as it likes to imagine. In many ways, the AUSMIN talks further isolate Australia from the region and make the country less relevant in the formulation of regional decisions.

China, in particular, may well re-evaluate relations. It now makes sense to treat Australia as a by-product of US policy rather than as a relatively independent entity. It can be assumed that Australian defence policy, and to a significant extent Australian foreign policy, will merely echo that of the US.

Australia will now see “regular and longer” visits of US submarines to a naval base in Western Australia, a regular rotation of US Army watercraft and American access to more Australian airbases.

The US will help Australia with its own guided missile development capabilities, potentially making the country a manufacturing base that supplies Washington with weapons. This week, it was reported that the US Air Force is planning to build a “mission planning” and operations centre in Darwin.