Oceania | Diplomacy | Oceania

‘Strategic Cousins’ Australia and Canada Chart a Closer Course

Both countries are navigating a geopolitical environment far more turbulent than the one that shaped their post-Cold War outlook.

Alongside Australia’s familial bond with New Zealand, and historic and cultural ties to the United Kingdom, Canada should be a similarly close partner for Canberra. The two countries share a broad middle power worldview and keen investment in multilateral architecture and free trade. They are both embedded in the Five Eyes intelligence network; their federal and Westminster political institutions are alike; and there’s a shared temperament of restraint over brashness, as well as a keen desire to project trust over power. 

In addressing the Australian Parliament this week, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney referred to the two countries as “strategic cousins.” Yet his visit to Australia highlighted that despite such symmetries, the bilateral relationship between the two countries is remarkably thin. Although they are the world’s ninth and 14th largest economies, trade between the two is relatively modest, while the security relationship tends to be bound to broader coalitions rather than organized bilaterally.

However, as geopolitical competition intensifies and economic dependence becomes weaponized by great powers, trusted partners like Australia and Canada need to find ways to build resilience in concert with each other. This means finding ways to enhance what should be a very natural relationship. 

Both countries are navigating a geopolitical environment far more turbulent than the one that shaped their post-Cold War outlook. The international order that underpinned decades of prosperity – based on open trade, predictable rules, and expanding global integration – is under strain. Intensifying great-power rivalry, technological competition and the increasing weaponization of economic interdependence have exposed vulnerabilities for globally connected middle powers.

Carney has taken the lead in a middle power push to shape the new rules, rather than simply succumb to emerging global conditions that are disadvantageous. For this to be impactful, it requires a coordinated effort from countries with stable institutions, credible diplomacy, and broad networks of partners who can convene to influence outcomes beyond their individual weight. 

Australia and Canada both occupy precisely this space, but the challenge is now to convert credibility into practical cooperation. 

One of the clearest signals to emerge from discussions between Carney and Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is in economic policy. The two governments agreed to establish regular coordination between economic ministers and regulators across finance, industry, taxation, and investment. This reflects a shift in thinking in making coordination between economic ministries similar to how defense ministers would meet. 

The central area of convergence is in critical minerals. Australia and Canada are among the world’s leading producers of resources essential to the modern technological economy, including lithium, uranium, nickel, and........

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