Andrew L. Urban
In Australian parlance, a bludger is a kind of lowlife, the kind that dodges shouting a round of beer. Just so the Americans understand, there’s no greater insult Down Under.
A bludger is a user, a wanker, a cheat … untrustworthy. It wouldn’t surprise if the White House adopted that as an insult hurled at Australia after PM Albanese’s response to Trump’s defence secretary urging Australia to increase its defence budget in the face of increased peril from China.
“We will decide our defence budget…” went the arrogant response from the man who once declared he was shit scared of Trump. Better he be shit scared of China…
Given that the US is essentially our defence policy, the bravado is misplaced. And it’s utterly bloody un-Australian. It’s effectively saying Australia doesn’t have to do much to be safe as long as the US is there. Apparently, we don’t even need to pay lip service to the notion of helping ourselves to be a good defence ally.
It isn’t some small, disinterested state but the US urging its allies to muscle up and help keep them safe from enemies, while it provides the lion’s share of the cost. Shrugging off that request in a public show of self-defeating stupidity is a serious miscalculation. Would you slap your bodyguard in the face when he asks you to be on alert and train in self defence?
The Australian’s foreign affairs editor Greg Sheridan is merciless in his criticism: “Marles told Hegseth he was ‘up for that conversation’ about increasing our defence spending. Albanese treated both Marles and Hegseth with contempt. We will decide our defence budget, Albanese fatuously declaimed. OK, does this mean we’re fine if the Americans walk away from our security?
“Albanese further said his government had allocated $10bn more for defence across the forward estimates, which is about two-thirds of diddly-squat. But here the loquacious, Euclidean Albanese asserted himself. Instead of picking a percentage of the GDP, he smugly explained, you should choose what defence assets you need to defend the country and then pay for them.
What a brilliant rhetorical joust! So tell us, PM, what actual defence assets has your government secured for Australia? The answer is none. We’re less capable militarily now than when Albanese was first elected.”
Is Albanese’s response driven by his antipathy to Trump? That would be the only explanation – other than dangerous hubris. We wouldn’t want our Prime Minister – the country’s primary defender – to suffer from either weakness.
I’ve got this, says the man with his back to the wall at gunpoint.
Andrew L. Urban is the author of 10 books and publishes pursuedemocracy.com