‘For ourselves': Albo's pointed jab at US
Mr Curtin's leadership, which lasted between 1941 to 1945, lasted during the Pacific War and the bombing of Darwin and Broome by the Japanese.
He died while in office, before peace was declared.
In a speech to mark the 80th anniversary of Mr Curtin's death on Saturday, the Prime Minister will credit the Labor figure with forging Australia's long-held alliance with the United States. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will pay tribute to John Curtin on the 80th anniversary of his death on Saturday. Jane Dempster/Pool/NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia John Curtin served as prime minister from 1941 to 1945. National Library of Australia Credit: Supplied
However Mr Albanese will also note Mr Curtin's decision to stand up to the US and the United Kingdom, then led by Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill his decision not to send Australian troops to then Burma, now Myanmar, in what would have been days before it fell to the Japanese.
'Hundreds if not thousands of Australians would have been killed, or taken prisoner. It would have been a disaster every bit as crushing to national morale as the fall of Singapore,' Mr Albanese is expected to tell attendees at Sydney's John Curtin Research Centre.
Mr Albanese will note that while the Australian-US alliance 'ought to be remembered as a product of Curtin's leadership in defence and foreign policy, not the extent of it'.
Instead, he will say that Mr Curtin had the 'confidence and determination to think and act for ourselves'.
'Because Curtin's famous statement that Australia 'looked to America' was much more than the idea of trading one strategic guarantor for another. Or swapping an alliance with the old world for one with the new,' he will say.
'It was a recognition that Australia's fate would be decided in our region. It followed the decision Curtin had made in 1941 that Australia would issue its own declaration of war with Japan.
'Speaking for ourselves, as a sovereign nation.' Anthony Albanese credited Mr Curtin for not only cementing the Australia-US alliance but also for speaking up for Australia as a 'sovereign nation'. Max Mason-Hubers/ Pool/ NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia
His remarks come as the Albanese government is currently under pressure by the Trump administration to amp up defence spending to 3.5 per cent, comes amid concerns of fragile global stability and claims from US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth that China would imminently invade Beijing.
Mr Albanese has frequently rejected US pressure to amp up defence spending, stating that investment will be calculated according to Australia's needs.
Labor is also under pressure to negotiate a tariff carveout, however on Friday he said he believed the levy applied to non steel and aluminium imports would remain at 10 per cent after Donald Trump's July 9 deadline.
Mr Albanese is also set to champion to 'rights and the role of middle powers and smaller nations' and speak to the importance of collective responsibility in the Indo-Pacific, despite fears of China's increasing aggression in the area.
Ensuring that the 'sovereignty of every nation is respected and the dignity of every individual is upheld' is another priority.
He will say his government will continue to rebuild Australia 'standing as a leader and partner in the Pacific,' deepen economic engagement in South East Asia, while 'patiently and deliberately working to stabilise our relationship with China'.
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West Australian
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Paul Murray: Public safety and national security come before a scoop
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The Advertiser
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He said he was grateful for the involvement of US President Donald Trump's administration in mediation efforts. "If it doesn't work, they aren't the ones to blame," Kagame said. There was no immediate response from Congo which has regularly accused Rwanda of being the aggressor. Kagame's remarks were his first in public since June 6. He was not seen attending events from then until June 24 and there was no activity on the presidency's usually busy social media accounts during that time. His absence led to speculation among Rwandan dissidents based outside the country about his health. David Himbara, a former Kagame adviser turned critic living in Canada, said repeatedly on social media that Kagame was ill. Asked for a response, Kagame brushed off the reports. "Some of my personal health problems might originate from managing you people," he said, to laughter. "What is the problem? What would people want me to account for? 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Rwanda denies helping M23 and says its forces are acting in self-defence against Congo's army and ethnic Hutu militiamen linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide, including from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). Kagame told reporters in Kigali that Rwanda was committed to implementing the deal, but that it could fail if Congo did not live up to its promises to neutralise the FDLR. "If the side that we are working with plays tricks and takes us back to the problem, then we deal with the problem like we have been dealing with it," Kagame said. He said he was grateful for the involvement of US President Donald Trump's administration in mediation efforts. "If it doesn't work, they aren't the ones to blame," Kagame said. There was no immediate response from Congo which has regularly accused Rwanda of being the aggressor. Kagame's remarks were his first in public since June 6. He was not seen attending events from then until June 24 and there was no activity on the presidency's usually busy social media accounts during that time. His absence led to speculation among Rwandan dissidents based outside the country about his health. David Himbara, a former Kagame adviser turned critic living in Canada, said repeatedly on social media that Kagame was ill. Asked for a response, Kagame brushed off the reports. "Some of my personal health problems might originate from managing you people," he said, to laughter. "What is the problem? What would people want me to account for? That I am not human?" added the president who showed no signs of being unwell during the press conference. Congo's government and M23 said on Thursday they would send delegations back to Qatar for parallel talks aimed at ending the conflict. The Trump administration has dangled the possibility of a separate investment deal that could unlock Western investment in regional supply chains for minerals such as tantalum, gold and copper as an incentive for all sides to make peace. Rwandan President Paul Kagame says he is unsure whether a US-brokered peace deal will hold with Democratic Republic of Congo and warns he will respond to any "tricks" from his neighbour. The agreement signed last week calls for Rwandan troops to withdraw within 90 days from eastern Congo, where the United Nations says they are supporting M23 rebels who seized the region's two largest cities earlier this year. Rwanda denies helping M23 and says its forces are acting in self-defence against Congo's army and ethnic Hutu militiamen linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide, including from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). Kagame told reporters in Kigali that Rwanda was committed to implementing the deal, but that it could fail if Congo did not live up to its promises to neutralise the FDLR. "If the side that we are working with plays tricks and takes us back to the problem, then we deal with the problem like we have been dealing with it," Kagame said. He said he was grateful for the involvement of US President Donald Trump's administration in mediation efforts. "If it doesn't work, they aren't the ones to blame," Kagame said. There was no immediate response from Congo which has regularly accused Rwanda of being the aggressor. Kagame's remarks were his first in public since June 6. He was not seen attending events from then until June 24 and there was no activity on the presidency's usually busy social media accounts during that time. His absence led to speculation among Rwandan dissidents based outside the country about his health. David Himbara, a former Kagame adviser turned critic living in Canada, said repeatedly on social media that Kagame was ill. Asked for a response, Kagame brushed off the reports. "Some of my personal health problems might originate from managing you people," he said, to laughter. "What is the problem? What would people want me to account for? That I am not human?" added the president who showed no signs of being unwell during the press conference. Congo's government and M23 said on Thursday they would send delegations back to Qatar for parallel talks aimed at ending the conflict. The Trump administration has dangled the possibility of a separate investment deal that could unlock Western investment in regional supply chains for minerals such as tantalum, gold and copper as an incentive for all sides to make peace. Rwandan President Paul Kagame says he is unsure whether a US-brokered peace deal will hold with Democratic Republic of Congo and warns he will respond to any "tricks" from his neighbour. The agreement signed last week calls for Rwandan troops to withdraw within 90 days from eastern Congo, where the United Nations says they are supporting M23 rebels who seized the region's two largest cities earlier this year. Rwanda denies helping M23 and says its forces are acting in self-defence against Congo's army and ethnic Hutu militiamen linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide, including from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). Kagame told reporters in Kigali that Rwanda was committed to implementing the deal, but that it could fail if Congo did not live up to its promises to neutralise the FDLR. "If the side that we are working with plays tricks and takes us back to the problem, then we deal with the problem like we have been dealing with it," Kagame said. He said he was grateful for the involvement of US President Donald Trump's administration in mediation efforts. "If it doesn't work, they aren't the ones to blame," Kagame said. There was no immediate response from Congo which has regularly accused Rwanda of being the aggressor. Kagame's remarks were his first in public since June 6. He was not seen attending events from then until June 24 and there was no activity on the presidency's usually busy social media accounts during that time. His absence led to speculation among Rwandan dissidents based outside the country about his health. David Himbara, a former Kagame adviser turned critic living in Canada, said repeatedly on social media that Kagame was ill. Asked for a response, Kagame brushed off the reports. "Some of my personal health problems might originate from managing you people," he said, to laughter. "What is the problem? What would people want me to account for? That I am not human?" added the president who showed no signs of being unwell during the press conference. Congo's government and M23 said on Thursday they would send delegations back to Qatar for parallel talks aimed at ending the conflict. The Trump administration has dangled the possibility of a separate investment deal that could unlock Western investment in regional supply chains for minerals such as tantalum, gold and copper as an incentive for all sides to make peace.
The Advertiser
an hour ago
- The Advertiser
'Cruel' Trump move to shake Aussies' trust in US
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"Australians are going to look at this and see the cruelty in it, and I think it's going to further drive this conversation about how close Australia is to the United States. "Where do Australians belong in the global conversation: as a floating aircraft carrier in the south Pacific, or as a more independent nation? How aligned do you want to be with Trump's America?" While Australia has positioned itself as a key US ally, cracks have also begun to show in the relationship. When asked recently if the US remained a reliable partner under Mr Trump's leadership, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia understood he had a "different view of how America is to be in the world". Australians' trust in the United States has already dropped by 20 points since 2024, hitting a new low with just 36 per cent of the public expressing any level of trust according to an April poll published by the Lowy Institute. In a speech to be delivered on Saturday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will reassert Australia's independence in foreign policy while dismissing Trump-style isolationist policies. "Choosing our own way doesn't mean going it alone," he will tell an audience in Sydney to mark the 80th anniversary of the death of former Labor prime minister John Curtin. "Australia did not just join the institutions which created the international rules based order, we helped shape them." The prime minister will draw comparisons between himself and the ex-wartime leader, saying Curtin did not just look to the US but spoke for Australia. The government has already rebuffed calls from Washington to dramatically increase its defence spending by tens of billions of dollars a year. Many analysts believe the Labor government's landslide election win in May was at least partly fuelled by voters' growing discomfort with the US president at a time when some of the coalition's talking points echoed Mr Trump's platforms. "(Australians) don't want to live in a country that espouses those same types of cruelties," Mr Alpert said. The size of Mr Albanese's victory meant he did not face significant pressure to shift his position towards the US president. But Mr Alpert said he would not be surprised if the government publicly supports some aspects of Mr Trump's latest measures, especially as it tries to negotiate an exemption from US tariffs. "We've already seen examples of that in Australia where leaders are trying to come up with positions where they can go to Trump and say, 'look, we're supporting your position, you should give us a better deal'," he said, pointing to Labor's decision to support US strikes on Iran. "That is probably the more dangerous aspect." Increasingly US-sceptic Australians might further question their nation's ties to the superpower as the impacts of Donald Trump's signature bill sweep through vulnerable communities. The US president's One Big Beautiful Bill Act cleared Congress on Friday, Australian time, enshrining significant cuts to health programs while funding income tax breaks and adding trillions of dollars to debt. America's wealthiest will benefit most from the bill while almost 12 million low-income Americans would be left uninsured, according to the Congressional Budget Office, and many could see their pay drop due to safety-net cuts. While the bill did not directly impact Australians, it would affect their perceptions of the US, according to Cory Alpert, an ex-staffer to former president Joe Biden. "This bill is going to hurt a lot of marginalised people," the Melbourne University researcher told AAP. "Australians are going to look at this and see the cruelty in it, and I think it's going to further drive this conversation about how close Australia is to the United States. "Where do Australians belong in the global conversation: as a floating aircraft carrier in the south Pacific, or as a more independent nation? How aligned do you want to be with Trump's America?" While Australia has positioned itself as a key US ally, cracks have also begun to show in the relationship. When asked recently if the US remained a reliable partner under Mr Trump's leadership, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia understood he had a "different view of how America is to be in the world". Australians' trust in the United States has already dropped by 20 points since 2024, hitting a new low with just 36 per cent of the public expressing any level of trust according to an April poll published by the Lowy Institute. In a speech to be delivered on Saturday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will reassert Australia's independence in foreign policy while dismissing Trump-style isolationist policies. "Choosing our own way doesn't mean going it alone," he will tell an audience in Sydney to mark the 80th anniversary of the death of former Labor prime minister John Curtin. "Australia did not just join the institutions which created the international rules based order, we helped shape them." The prime minister will draw comparisons between himself and the ex-wartime leader, saying Curtin did not just look to the US but spoke for Australia. The government has already rebuffed calls from Washington to dramatically increase its defence spending by tens of billions of dollars a year. Many analysts believe the Labor government's landslide election win in May was at least partly fuelled by voters' growing discomfort with the US president at a time when some of the coalition's talking points echoed Mr Trump's platforms. "(Australians) don't want to live in a country that espouses those same types of cruelties," Mr Alpert said. The size of Mr Albanese's victory meant he did not face significant pressure to shift his position towards the US president. But Mr Alpert said he would not be surprised if the government publicly supports some aspects of Mr Trump's latest measures, especially as it tries to negotiate an exemption from US tariffs. "We've already seen examples of that in Australia where leaders are trying to come up with positions where they can go to Trump and say, 'look, we're supporting your position, you should give us a better deal'," he said, pointing to Labor's decision to support US strikes on Iran. "That is probably the more dangerous aspect." Increasingly US-sceptic Australians might further question their nation's ties to the superpower as the impacts of Donald Trump's signature bill sweep through vulnerable communities. The US president's One Big Beautiful Bill Act cleared Congress on Friday, Australian time, enshrining significant cuts to health programs while funding income tax breaks and adding trillions of dollars to debt. America's wealthiest will benefit most from the bill while almost 12 million low-income Americans would be left uninsured, according to the Congressional Budget Office, and many could see their pay drop due to safety-net cuts. While the bill did not directly impact Australians, it would affect their perceptions of the US, according to Cory Alpert, an ex-staffer to former president Joe Biden. "This bill is going to hurt a lot of marginalised people," the Melbourne University researcher told AAP. "Australians are going to look at this and see the cruelty in it, and I think it's going to further drive this conversation about how close Australia is to the United States. "Where do Australians belong in the global conversation: as a floating aircraft carrier in the south Pacific, or as a more independent nation? How aligned do you want to be with Trump's America?" While Australia has positioned itself as a key US ally, cracks have also begun to show in the relationship. When asked recently if the US remained a reliable partner under Mr Trump's leadership, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia understood he had a "different view of how America is to be in the world". Australians' trust in the United States has already dropped by 20 points since 2024, hitting a new low with just 36 per cent of the public expressing any level of trust according to an April poll published by the Lowy Institute. In a speech to be delivered on Saturday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will reassert Australia's independence in foreign policy while dismissing Trump-style isolationist policies. "Choosing our own way doesn't mean going it alone," he will tell an audience in Sydney to mark the 80th anniversary of the death of former Labor prime minister John Curtin. "Australia did not just join the institutions which created the international rules based order, we helped shape them." The prime minister will draw comparisons between himself and the ex-wartime leader, saying Curtin did not just look to the US but spoke for Australia. The government has already rebuffed calls from Washington to dramatically increase its defence spending by tens of billions of dollars a year. Many analysts believe the Labor government's landslide election win in May was at least partly fuelled by voters' growing discomfort with the US president at a time when some of the coalition's talking points echoed Mr Trump's platforms. "(Australians) don't want to live in a country that espouses those same types of cruelties," Mr Alpert said. The size of Mr Albanese's victory meant he did not face significant pressure to shift his position towards the US president. But Mr Alpert said he would not be surprised if the government publicly supports some aspects of Mr Trump's latest measures, especially as it tries to negotiate an exemption from US tariffs. "We've already seen examples of that in Australia where leaders are trying to come up with positions where they can go to Trump and say, 'look, we're supporting your position, you should give us a better deal'," he said, pointing to Labor's decision to support US strikes on Iran. "That is probably the more dangerous aspect." Increasingly US-sceptic Australians might further question their nation's ties to the superpower as the impacts of Donald Trump's signature bill sweep through vulnerable communities. The US president's One Big Beautiful Bill Act cleared Congress on Friday, Australian time, enshrining significant cuts to health programs while funding income tax breaks and adding trillions of dollars to debt. America's wealthiest will benefit most from the bill while almost 12 million low-income Americans would be left uninsured, according to the Congressional Budget Office, and many could see their pay drop due to safety-net cuts. While the bill did not directly impact Australians, it would affect their perceptions of the US, according to Cory Alpert, an ex-staffer to former president Joe Biden. "This bill is going to hurt a lot of marginalised people," the Melbourne University researcher told AAP. "Australians are going to look at this and see the cruelty in it, and I think it's going to further drive this conversation about how close Australia is to the United States. "Where do Australians belong in the global conversation: as a floating aircraft carrier in the south Pacific, or as a more independent nation? How aligned do you want to be with Trump's America?" While Australia has positioned itself as a key US ally, cracks have also begun to show in the relationship. When asked recently if the US remained a reliable partner under Mr Trump's leadership, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia understood he had a "different view of how America is to be in the world". Australians' trust in the United States has already dropped by 20 points since 2024, hitting a new low with just 36 per cent of the public expressing any level of trust according to an April poll published by the Lowy Institute. In a speech to be delivered on Saturday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will reassert Australia's independence in foreign policy while dismissing Trump-style isolationist policies. "Choosing our own way doesn't mean going it alone," he will tell an audience in Sydney to mark the 80th anniversary of the death of former Labor prime minister John Curtin. "Australia did not just join the institutions which created the international rules based order, we helped shape them." The prime minister will draw comparisons between himself and the ex-wartime leader, saying Curtin did not just look to the US but spoke for Australia. The government has already rebuffed calls from Washington to dramatically increase its defence spending by tens of billions of dollars a year. Many analysts believe the Labor government's landslide election win in May was at least partly fuelled by voters' growing discomfort with the US president at a time when some of the coalition's talking points echoed Mr Trump's platforms. "(Australians) don't want to live in a country that espouses those same types of cruelties," Mr Alpert said. The size of Mr Albanese's victory meant he did not face significant pressure to shift his position towards the US president. But Mr Alpert said he would not be surprised if the government publicly supports some aspects of Mr Trump's latest measures, especially as it tries to negotiate an exemption from US tariffs. "We've already seen examples of that in Australia where leaders are trying to come up with positions where they can go to Trump and say, 'look, we're supporting your position, you should give us a better deal'," he said, pointing to Labor's decision to support US strikes on Iran. "That is probably the more dangerous aspect."
