P&I today begins a major new series - rethinking Australia’s foreign policy. The United States is becoming more erratic and less reliable, and Australia must respond by insulating itself – strengthening regional ties, rethinking defence settings, and reducing strategic dependence, according to John Menadue. 

Trump and Netanyahu are the most dangerous persons on the planet. US policy in the Middle East is not driven by oil. It is driven by Netanyahu. And allies in the Gulf are paying a very heavy price for allowing US bases on their soil. The same fate might be ours with northern Australia becoming a US military colony.

Trump defaces almost everything he touches. His behaviour and language suggest psychological disturbance. Penny Wong speaks of a “much more unpredictable US”. And so does Andrew Hastie, telling us that the Iran war is “a huge miscalculation” by Trump.

Trump’s damage is likely irreversible. The US does not negotiate in good faith any more, as the Iranians have found three times over nuclear issues.

We need regime change in Washington more than Tehran. But in the meantime, we must minimise risk. Appealing or sucking up to Trump will not work. He bullies the weak and confronting him will provoke a dangerous tirade as the Europeans have found.

A change in our relationship with the US should not be couched in terms of our rejection but Asian engagement. Or, as I read recently, countries such as Australia should insulate rather than isolate themselves from the United States. Prudent risk management may be an even better description.

To propose US rejection would immediately lead to predictable attacks from our media which is a platform for Washington’s view of the world. Our intelligence, defence agencies, and think tanks also have a vested interest in the American alliance. They have been on the Washington drip feed for so long – mainly through the Five Eyes – that they cannot envisage Australia as other than a locked-on vassal of the CIA.

There has been a shift in Australian attitudes towards the United States. Recently the US Study Centre found that only 16 per cent of Australians think that Trump’s second term has been good for Australia. In 2025 only 42 per cent of Australians believe that the alliance makes Australian more secure. This is a 13-percentage drop from 2024 and the lowest level since USSC polling began in 2022. Nearly one third of Australians now........

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