Michaelia Cash: Australia must stand up for its interests in the wake of US Iran strikes

West Australian

3 hours ago

The old adage that 'a week is a long time in politics' has been starkly demonstrated as an enduring truth with the significant world events that have unfolded recently.
Israel has further exercised its sovereign right to defend its people and ensure the security of future generations.
The Unites States strongly backed Israel with a series of precision strikes on nuclear facilities in Iran. It appears the US strikes will end Iran's nuclear capacity for now.
The Coalition supports actions taken by the US to ensure that the Iranian regime is stopped from acquiring nuclear weapons.
We can never allow the Iranian regime the capacity to enact its objectives of the destruction of the US and Israel.
The world can never accept a nuclear-armed Iran and acting now to ensure that is the case is the right thing to do.
These events are a long way from Australia but have implications for us and the rest of the world.
President Donald Trump left the G7 meeting in Canada early to deal with the situation in the Middle East.
For Australia this meant a planned meeting between the President and our Prime Minister on the sidelines of the G7 was cancelled.
Given the situation in the Middle East, the decision by the President to cancel the meeting is completely understandable but to the detriment of Australia.
This was an important opportunity for the Prime Minister to seek assurances on AUKUS and protect Australia from tariffs.
Given global volatility and the growing list of issues in our relationship with the US, this underscores that the Prime Minister should not have merely relied on meeting with the President on the sidelines of international summits.
The Prime Minister should have been more proactive in seeking to strengthen this relationship — Australia's most important — and we encourage him to change his approach to advance our national interest.
As Australians we must step up our engagement across the board with the US.
President Trump won the US election more than 200 days ago and has held meetings with leaders from the UK, Canada, Germany, Ireland, France, Japan, Norway and South Africa.
Our Prime Minister has only spoken to the President on the phone.
On the international stage, Australia needs its leader to stand up for our interests so we can build a stronger Australian economy.
President Trump's tariffs on our steelmakers are not in the spirit of our century-old partnership, nor in line with our 20-year-old free trade agreement.
We urge the US administration to give Australia a fair go and remove the tariffs, as they have done for the UK.
And we urge the Albanese Government not to compromise on policies that ensure affordable healthcare, bio-security, and a fair economic landscape for Australian businesses and families.
It must not sell out our Australian farmers and producers. Success can not be achieved through putting our world-class agriculture at risk.
In regard to AUKUS, the Coalition put it in place and we want it to succeed.
But the fact AUKUS is under review by the Pentagon is concerning because any delay or downgrade in the US commitment will impact our future defence capability.
The Prime Minister must seek assurances from President Trump to safeguard the AUKUS agreement.
AUKUS is the most important strategic initiative Australia has entered into in decades.
It provides the nuclear-powered submarines and technological edge we need to deter conflict and defend our sovereignty in a more contested Indo-Pacific.
This is not business as usual. The Prime Minister cannot afford to be a bystander in our relationship with the US.
Anthony Albanese must put Australia's case clearly and secure the commitments we were promised.
We will always support bipartisan co-operation on national security, but that co-operation cannot mask inaction from the Government.
The Coalition wants the Government to succeed here because that is in our national interest.
Michaelia Cash is the shadow minister for foreign affairs