Trump advisor encourages Australia to further invest in defence to show US it takes threats to national security 'seriously'
A senior advisor to President Donald Trump has issued a warning to Australia over its defence spending, suggesting it needed to improve in order to strengthen its relationship with the United States.
Sebastian Gorka, who serves as the deputy assistant to the president and the senior director for counterterrorism in the Trump administration discussed Australia's defence investment during an exclusive interview with Sharri Markson on Sky News on Wednesday.
Australia's investment in defence has come under the spotlight in the past week, after it was highlighted by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) that the government risks falling behind in its military preparedness amid rising global threats.
In the report, former home affairs deputy secretary Mark Ablong concluded "the failure of this year's budget to meet that responsibility will make all Australians less secure".
"Without urgent, coordinated and well resourced responses to those challenges, Australia risks a brittle and hollowed defence force, diminished industrial sovereignty, and compromised national security in a volatile Indo Pacific region," he wrote.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese brushed off the report, sticking by Labor's investment in defence, but the US has sent the message it is not satisfied with Australia's commitment.
Mr Gorka said his relationship with Australian representatives had been positive so far, describing Australia as one of America's "closest partners in national security".
"I think what (President Trump's) said to NATO nations, what he did in the first administration to get those who weren't paying enough into the collective defence alliance that is NATO and how he got them to do so speaks for itself. But...we've only been here for, what, four months. And I've had several meetings with our colleagues, our Australian counterterrorism, national security colleagues. It has been a delight," he said.
However, he said Australia had to take national security seriously and the manner in which it responds to threats will determine how strong its relationship with the US will be.
"I say to you what I say every nation. You are measured by how seriously you take the threats to your citizens, to your sovereignty. And if you wish to be understood as friends, as allies, and partners, that requires certain traits and certain behaviours to be met," Mr Gorka said.
"Committing to your own defence so we are stronger together is clearly one of them So the people of Australia, the government they choose will decide the exact percentages of GDP, but I think the President will have an opinion when he meets with his Australian counterpart."
Mr Gorka's comments come after US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth last week flagged Australia needed to lift its investment to about 3.5 per cent of GDP to his counterpart Defence Minister Richard Marles during a meeting in Singapore.
The Deputy Prime Minister later said Mr Hegseth raised the issue of defence spending after the US had asked its NATO allies to raise their spending.
"I wouldn't put a number on it. The need to increase defence spending is something that he definitely raised and you have seen the Americans in the way in which they have engaged with all of their friends and allies asking them to do more and we can completely understand why America would do that," he told ABC's Afternoon Briefing.
"What I made clear is that this is a conversation that we are very willing to have and it is one that we are having already... but we want to make sure that we are contributing to the strategic moment that we all face.
"We have done a lot already, but we are absolutely up for having this conversation and we want to calibrate our defence spending to meet the strategic moment that we all face."
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