“Impressive” isn’t usually a word used to describe speeches to the Australian Parliament. Descriptors like “straightforward”, “partisan”, and even “workmanlike” might be more appropriate for the state of things in Canberra.

It’s for this reason Canadian prime minister Mark Carney’s arrival this week lit the place up.

First in a fireside chat at the Lowy Institute in Sydney, and then on the floor of the House of Representatives on Thursday, Carney was erudite and persuasive. Dominating headlines from the World Economic Forum in January, he announced the time of death for the post-second world war rules-based order and urged middle powers to band together as the US and China throw their weight around.

The former central banker is impressive, but despite the buzz around his prescription for our uncertain times, Australia actually isn’t listening to what Carney has to say.

For all his stylish diplomacy, both Labor and the Coalition appear to be pretending the “rupture” Carney has identified has not happened at all.

“The world will always be shaped by great powers,” he told the chamber, packed at double capacity. “But it can also be shaped by middle powers that trust each other enough to act with speed and purpose.

“In a post-rupture world, the nations that are trusted and can work together will be quicker to the punch, more effective in their responses, more proactive in shaping outcomes, and ultimately more secure and prosperous.”

Clarifying one aspect of his viral Davos speech, Carney revealed at Lowy that he had flubbed one of his lines. Instead of suggesting countries like Canada and Australia should not mourn the loss of the old system, built around the UN and rules and norms, he told the Lowy Institute’s executive director, Michael Fullilove, the text of his speech actually said such mourning shouldn’t continue “too long” and now is the time to move forward.

In Canberra he said starting afresh meant countries could build “something better, more prosperous, more resilient, more just”.

Anthony Albanese was clearly thrilled with the visit. The two leaders have met 10 times already, after both being elected in part amid a backlash against the US president, Donald Trump.

Along with Emmanuel Macron of France and Keir Starmer of Britain, Albanese and Carney consider themselves part of a progressive backstop against the growing forces on the right and the hard right around the world.

For Australia, it seems even countenancing a move away from the US is beyond the imagination of our current political leaders

The pair made announcements on trade ties, defence cooperation, AI and superannuation. Australia also joined the top-tier grouping of democratic countries on critical minerals.

Albanese has already expressed a similar message to Carney. He explained it at the United Nations last year, stressing cooperation and coalition building were needed more than ever, and that joint action on climate change and the recognition of Palestine was worthy and necessary, even though it irked Trump.

Labor is working to strengthen ties in the Indo-Pacific, build up institutions and speak on behalf of the region internationally. Success here will be a hallmark of Albanese’s prime ministership and reflects the hard graft of ministers including Penny Wong.

Where things come undone, however, is Australia’s response to the recent bombings in Iran and its moves to get closer to the US through the Aukus nuclear agreement.

Australia has so far paid upwards of $1.6bn to boost America’s defence industrial capability – as well as another $310m to Britain announced last month. It’s a deal that explicitly allows for promised Virginia class submarines to be withheld by Washington if it is deemed in the American national interest by the president of the day.

The price tag for Aukus is at least $370bn, and Labor is still to explain some of the most costly and long-lasting elements, such as where the east coast submarine base will be located and where radioactive spent fuel will be kept. The Coalition says Labor is “cannibalising” the defence budget to find Aukus billions.

By design, Aukus is about linking Australia’s defence to the US for longer, which leads to obvious questions about what role our troops would play in a conflict with China over Taiwan. On the charm offensive to keep the contract, Guardian Australia’s political reporter Josh Butler revealed this week Albanese gave Trump a gold-plated model submarine during his successful White House visit last year.

Despite concerns about America, Carney said he was confident about the state of the Fives Eyes intelligence sharing alliance between Canada and Australia, as well as the US, UK and New Zealand.

For Australia, it seems even countenancing a move away from the US is beyond the imagination of our current political leaders. The system might be too stubborn to shift.

Separately, Albanese and Wong were under pressure this week after coming out strongly in support of the US and Israeli strikes on Iran. Clearly outside the bounds of international law, they talked up the goals of stopping Iran’s nuclear program and the regime’s spread of terror, including to Australia, but squirmed when asked if the bombing was legal.

The importance of the rules-based order had been a key talking point for Labor’s first few years in office.

Early statements from Australia and Canada, as the bombing raids first got under way, were strikingly similar, down to the word. Starmer and other leaders, including Spain’s Pedro Sánchez, struck markedly different tones. Carney eventually conceded the strikes had no legal basis.

On Friday it emerged three Australian sailors were aboard the American submarine that sank an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka, killing at least 87 people. After saying for days Australia was not involved in the war, Labor squirmed again.

It is hard not to wonder what the former Albanese opposition might have said about similar revelations from the Coalition just a few years ago. So far only a few murmurings can be heard from inside the Labor caucus about support for another far-off war.

There is a rupture going on, and after the stardust of the Carney visit settles, Australia should be clear-eyed and honest about how we’ll respond.

Tom McIlroy is Guardian Australia’s political editor

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