Australia was invaded last week.

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The invader did a lot of damage, similar to previous invasions over the past couple of decades.

The invader took people's homes, damaged the power grid, wrecked roads and bridges, and destroyed crops. All the things that invaders do.

And the invader will come again and again in greater force, destroying lives and property.

The invader, of course, is the more violent weather caused by climate change. The same invader that killed at least 78 in Texas in the last week.

This is the biggest national-security threat facing most countries.

This is the national-security threat that the nations of the earth should be spending 3.5 or even 5 per cent of GDP to address.

It provides the answer Australia should give to the preposterous US demand that we spend more on "defence" - a demand that really means wasting more money buying American weapons and adding to the $500 million already handed over to the Americans to bolster their shipyards to build submarines we will never get.

And what rent is the US paying on Pine Gap, the North-West Cape and the Darwin base, if anything? When are we going to question whether it is worth remaining such a close ally of the US?

What is the point of NATO increasing "defence" spending if NATO cannot use its undoubted force and ability to push the Russians out of Ukraine and arrest Putin to be tried for war crimes for which there is copious evidence?

The passing last week of the One Big Beautiful Bill reinforces the fact that the US no longer shares with us common values. The bill slashes food, medical, and educational help from people who desperately need it to give money to the already wealthy who do not - in a way that runs counter to the Australian fair go. Just as the slashing of USAID is contrary to Australia values because it has killed innocent children.

Maybe we could ignore that.........

© Canberra Times