Albanese is choosing weakness for Australia

Mark Carney says the “less powerful” can choose honesty and independence, but in the AUKUS and US alliance, Anthony Albanese appears to choose weakness instead. Paul Begley writes.

PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA Mark Carneyin Davos speech He cited wisdom received at the World Economic Forum last month Thucydides By observing the fact that the strong do their best, while the weak suffer what they have to suffer.

The Canadian Prime Minister also noted that both the strong and the weak tend to express a common belief in concepts such as the rules-based international order, organized trade practices and respect for human rights.

Although self-serving illusions suit the strong, the weak often act together to avoid trouble.

Carney added a third category to the binary concepts of strong and weak. “less powerful”. He said the group, unlike the weak, had options; That is, he has options as long as he does not insist on repeating the dominant fictions told by the strong and the weak. Its only option in this situation is to count its members among the weak and suffer accordingly.

With an educated population of about 41 million people living mostly in urban cities like Ontario and Quebec, and a GDP of about AU$3.2 trillion, Carney sees Canada as one of the less powerful, but not one of the weak. His requirement is that Canada and other less powerful nations fit that definition. “less powerful” But only if their leaders give up “Old comfortable assumptions that our geography and alliance membership automatically provide prosperity and security.”.

With this in mind, he announced that Canada has signed new strategic partnerships with China and Qatar, free trade agreements with India, Thailand and the Philippines, become a key contributor to the security and defense of Ukraine, and stands with Denmark and Greenland on Arctic sovereignty. Canada also works with NATO allies. Nordic-Baltic EightInvesting in radar, submarines, airplanes and ice boats.

Missing from this repositioning between alliances is the failure to mention the United States, particularly to the south of Canada. Because Carney thinks Canada no longer shares its strategic interests or values with the US superpower, and claims that Canada has now stopped telling lies that contradict the new reality.

Carney, one of the less powerful, stated that being so is not the same as being weak or impotent:

“The power of the less powerful begins with honesty.”

Albanese chose to remain powerless by choosing AUKUS

By Carney’s estimate, Australia, with an educated population of about 27 million living largely in coastal cities and a GDP of about $1.9 trillion, could potentially count as one of the less powerful unless it insists on being dishonest with itself; In this case, he prefers to be counted among the weak.

When Albanian The cabinet met following Labor’s landslide victory in the May 2025 Election. reminded his colleagues They won because they offered voters a cost-of-living reduction, reliable health care, a fair education system, improved housing supply, a strong response to climate change, and a strategy to combat inflation.

To the dubious list of achieved desires, Albanese added discipline, which may be the quality closest to reality. His first-term cabinet exercised discipline to avoid speaking openly about him. AUKUSA $368 billion hole jeopardizes the successes he claims for his administration.

It is becoming increasingly obvious that AUKUS now resembles a booby trap set by its predecessor. Scott Morrison. Built on a carte blanche promise that nuclear-powered submarines would not be delivered to Australia in the 2030s, 2040s or ever, Albanese’s embrace of this policy has become such a burden that it jeopardizes the chances of delivering a progressive Labor agenda.

Albanese seized the opportunity to get out from under AUKUS. Joe Biden He was in the Oval Office but allowed himself to be overthrown and fell prey to a warped defensive posture of “America First” interests at a time when a wildly capricious President was in office. Embers It is our alliance partner “forever”.

It has also come at a time when Trump has predictably revealed that he doesn’t really care about his allies unless he prioritizes his own whims over anything that might resemble their national interest or sovereignty.

In the absence of a credible narrative from Albanese explaining AUKUS to the Australian public, Deputy Richard MarlesHis American counterpart gladly assumes the role of courier in regularly delivering $800 million in AUKUS down payments to the US Secretary of War. Pete Hegseth.

Payments are made on the wishful assumption that we might get something for our money, other than the occasional invitation to dinner on the White House lawn. Paul Keating said thisSo that our leaders can mingle with their suppliant and sycophantic friends who are equally desperate not to anger the host.

In this context, Marles talked about the virtues of Australia’s participation in the signing ceremony of the US President. Peace BoardAn Orwellian group of national leaders Defined by Jeremy Corbyn and others as a gang of thieves.

Albanese typically says he took Trump’s invitation into consideration; Marles reminds him of “shared values”, as if the US under Trump bears any resemblance to the America that Australians once admired and with whom we now conceptually share values.

Trump’s apparent murder Venezuelan fishermen And kidnapping Australia remains silent on its president. Nor do our leaders give Denmark or Greenland any comfort that they can get support from Down Under. Although the Minister of Foreign Affairs Penny Wong He has stopped talking about platitudes about a rules-based international order and no longer claims that Israel has the right to defend itself in the territory it illegally occupies. remains in line with cabinet members in acknowledging the “serious nature” of the Israeli President’s visit to Australia, Isaac Herzog.

The Prime Minister made the bold claim that the Herzog visit would contribute to the interests of the union, while openly sowing hatred and division. Mr. Herzog was found by the United Nations Independent Commission of Inquiry into the Occupied Palestinian Territories Being responsible for the crime of Inciting Genocide, a crime classified as an Atrocity Crime in a rogue state.

Australia’s continued refusal, under the leadership of Prime Minister Albanese and Deputy Prime Minister Marles, to condemn the indefensible US-Israeli position on the mass murder of Palestinian citizens is a failure that amounts to a perverse adherence to a set of international rules and values that no longer exist. The state visit was not imposed on Albanese; He chose to invite Herzog.

If the power of the less powerful begins with honesty, Australia chooses to read old and dead fiction. Among the deceptions our political leaders tell themselves on our behalf cheat related to “No one left behind, no one left behind”.

The phrase is indelibly etched in the public mind as an image of Albanese’s personal profile as a poor boy raised in public housing by a single mother, Maryanne. While there are unemployed Australians, that poor boy now heads a government that has handed out $368 billion for an empty promise. Job seeker They are told to pay for food and shelter for less than $800 a week.

AUKUS now allows the once poor kid to accept invitations to dinner on the White House lawn, so he is no longer clearly left behind. All this in Australia Reserve Bank Board He wants to see the number of Australian unemployed rise before cutting interest rates.

And 430,000 victims Robodebt Those who have not recovered from the trauma and loss of financial opportunity resulting from the long life of a colossal failure of public administration are seeing in real time what Albanese has envisioned. against advice The then Attorney General, an anti-corruption body who ensured that victims of robodebt were not shut down if it meant subjecting the Prime Minister’s high-ranking political opponents to public scrutiny and judgment in the courts.

Dishonesty prevails on many fronts and ensures that we are counted among the weak. Is this the price a poor kid chooses to pay to catch up?

Paul Begley worked in public relations positions for many years until recently as General Manager of Government and Media Relations at the Australian HR Institute. You can follow Paul on Twitter @yelgeb.

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