Last week, while Albo flew around the world trying to secure emergency fuel and fertiliser supplies for Australia, as a result of the international crisis caused by the United States, Acting PM and Defence Minister Richard Marles was in Canberra talking about defence.
Educated at Geelong Grammar, Marles has always seemed like a bloke who would be more at home in an old-fashioned Coalition government than on Labor’s front bench. At the Press Club, he was stuck in a time warp of his own, talking about a global rules-based order which no longer exists. China and Russia are the enemy, and safety is ensured by regional partnerships, hypersonic missiles, drones and submarines.
‘Alliances, especially with the United States, will always be fundamental to Australia’s defence,’ he said.
Always? What if our ‘ally’ continues invading countries which have not attacked it? What if the result destabilises the entire planet? What if white people live in the next countries to be invaded? Where does Mr Marles draw the line?
Could he at least concede that Donald Trump has damaged American international prestige? ‘Well, I think, I mean, I’m not going to walk down that path,’ he said, showing the kind of courage that took him to the top of the Labor Right faction.
Another reporter tried to tease out the benefits, if any, of Australian taxpayers transferring billions of dollars to the US industrial base to build submarines that seem unlikely ever to arrive. Marles made a rambling reply about the importance of ‘sustainment’ of American submarine production, before concluding that he was ‘really confident’ we might see some second-hand submarines arriving here in the 2030s.
More money for things that go bang
Taking his cue from his Pulp Fiction-inspired US counterpart Pete Hegseth, but resisting the temptation to quote from the Book of Tarantino, Richard Marles said more domestic military spending was an excellent thing, with a $14 billion increase projected over forward estimates, and $53 billion over the next decade.
He acknowledged the risk of the world being in the ‘foothills of a new nuclear arms race’, but moved quickly to suggest this was mainly China’s fault. He had nothing to say about Israel’s ongoing murderous aggressions, or the fact that Iran was invaded, not the other way round.
‘We very much support the strategic objective of denying Iran a deployable nuclear weapon,’ Marles said. Unfortunately, after what’s just happened, Iran’s leadership could plausibly make the case that such a weapon is all that might protect them in future.
Richard Marles also left the door open for Australia to get more involved militarily in the current war, beyond the deployment of the E-7 Wedgetail battle management aircraft, if the Trump administration can rise above its constant state of chaos for long enough to make a formal request.
‘The Strait of Hormuz is fundamentally important to Australia’s national interest,’ he said. ‘We want to see it open, and we will play a constructive role and contribute in any way we can to whatever effort may be put in place in future in relation to that.’
Watch this space, in other words.
If in doubt, go low
Over at Coalition HQ, Angus Taylor has been polishing his dog whistle and learning nothing from his party’s catastrophic defeat in the last election as he sought to blame immigration and Labor for all of Australia’s woes.
In an unholy blend of Trump, Hanson and Howard, he used his latest policy launch to call for a values test for migrants (which already exists), claimed to have fought for Australia’s fuel security while in government (the Liberals did the opposite), attacked multiculturalism and net zero, and suggested ‘big government’ was the problem.
‘The Coalition I lead has a freedom agenda at its core,’ he said, before insisting that the 1,700 people currently in Australia fleeing the destruction of Gaza present ‘a high risk to our nation’.
Paul Keating emerged from his eyrie to call out Taylor’s racism. ‘With its shabby appeal to differentiation and primal instincts, Angus Taylor marks himself out as a political leader unworthy of the leadership of a party that has managed Australia for the greater part of the last century and which celebrated the country’s unifying values.
‘Racism is not simply immoral and abhorent, it is absurd,’ thundered PJK. Hear hear.
As for our current treasurer, Jim Chalmers, there are encouraging signs that Labor might finally be about to tax the windfall and capital gains profits of giant coal and gas companies operating here. This could buy us a few more phantom US submarines, or even deliver some urgently needed cost of living relief to ordinary Australians.
You can do it, Jim!
Originally from Canberra, David Lowe is an award-winning filmmaker, writer and photographer with particular interests in the environment and politics. He’s known for his campaigning work with Cloudcatcher Media.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
