Perhaps the most pointed commentary of the week comes from a major editorial in The Age arguing bluntly that Australia can no longer rely on Trump’s America. “The essential truth about Donald Trump is that he does not do alliances or even friendships,” the piece states. “He’s turned on NATO, on Ukraine, Canada, Denmark. Wait around long enough and he’ll find a reason to go after us.”
The editorial represents a significant shift in mainstream Australian discourse about the US alliance — long considered sacrosanct in Canberra’s foreign policy establishment. The argument is that the “madness” of unpredictable American policy has persisted too long for Australia to continue treating the relationship as a reliable pillar of its security architecture. It’s a conversation that will only intensify as both countries head deeper into an uncertain geopolitical era.