The Australian Labor Party’s Foreign Policy No Longer Matches the World’s Realities

The party’s platform clings to the U.S. alliance while ignoring its own commitment to self-reliance and the opportunities of the Asia-Pacific.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong speaks during an official visit to New Delhi, India, Nov. 21, 2025.

In July, the Australian Labor Party (ALP) will hold its 50th National Conference in Adelaide. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Foreign Minister Penny Wong, and Defense Minister Richard Marles will be expecting a tame, media-friendly, and lifeless event. Their objective will be to administer a strong dose of policy futility to Labor’s delegates and supporters.

By contrast, the efforts of delegates will be critical to Australia’s future on an issue that most voters are allowed to ignore: Australia’s foreign policy. Central to those concerns is the absurdity of Labor’s international relations. In Chapter 7 of the current ALP platform, titled “Australia’s Place in a Changing World,” three clauses stand out. The first describes the United States as Australia’s “enduring partner” and asserts that America is our closest security ally, “formalized through the ANZUS Treaty.”

Only fools and the uninformed would consider the U.S. an “enduring partner” in the Trump era. Displaying his malignant narcissism, Trump’s cowardly bombing campaign in Iran and his threat to obliterate the entire civilization of 93 million people leaves America now accused of waging aggressive war. This is the “supreme international crime” condemned by the judgment of the Nazis at Nuremberg in 1946. Those proceedings bequeathed the rules-based order that Labor leaders love to cite.

In this age of fickle alliances, Labor continues to emphasize the security of ANZUS. The NZUS component lapsed in 1986 over the issue of non-declared U.S. nuclear-armed ships visiting New Zealand ports. It has been reworked as a bilateral defense and security agreement only. But Australia still clings to the 1951 agreement, although it merely requires consultation between the U.S. and Australia in the event of a foreign act of aggression.

As the war in Ukraine and the treatment of NATO and other allies have shown, America no longer sees itself as bound by the security commitments it made after 1945. Citing ANZUS as a protective treaty is a distortion promoted to encourage groupthink. It’s a fake security blanket for incurious Australians. It should be called out for what it is not and consigned to an exhibit in the National Museum of Australia.

The second commitment in the 2023 ALP National Platform identifies our relationship with China as one “of great importance to Australia, to our region and to the world.” This, of course, is undeniable because our prosperity and the major drivers of our economy depend on China’s status as our largest trading partner. China purchases one-third of all Australian exports, supports some 570,000 Australian jobs, and generates bilateral trade worth over $200 billion annually.

Despite its importance, Penny Wong reduces the relationship to a smug slogan, repeated ad nauseam: “We will cooperate with China where we can, disagree when we must, and engage in the national interest.”

If we in Labor see ourselves as realists dealing with the world as it is, we would at least apply the same “cooperate where we can, disagree where we must” principle to all our foreign policy relationships, including the United States. We don’t – but in 2026, we should. And, as Paul Keating and many eminent Australians have said for years, we know we can forge goodwill in Asia and use diplomacy and statecraft to make our security in the region where we live.

The third commitment deserves to be known much more widely by the Australian people. Under the heading, “Self-reliant defense and peacemaking,” the ALP Platform states, unambiguously:

Labor’s defense policy is founded on the principle of self-reliance. Australia’s armed forces need to be able to defend against credible threats without relying on the combat forces and capabilities of other countries.

Labor’s defense policy is founded on the principle of self-reliance. Australia’s armed forces need to be able to defend against credible threats without relying on the combat forces and capabilities of other countries.

That declaration deserves scrutiny in the current climate of muddle and maladministration in Australia’s........

© The Diplomat