EDITORIAL: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is delusional if he thinks Australia can defend itself alone

If Anthony Albanese thinks Australia is capable of defending itself against an attack on its sovereignty by a determined enemy, he is living in a fantasy land.

We are an influential middle power, and we have powerful friends. But by virtue of our relatively small population and large land mass, we simply do not have the military heft to maintain our own security on our own.

That’s where those powerful friends come in. And since the ANZUS Treaty was signed in 1951, we have had no greater friend that the United States, which also happens to be the world’s No. 1 military power. Despite our close historical ties to the UK, we do not have a formal security agreement with Britain and we do not have the benefit of being part of any NATO-style bloc in which an attack on one member is seen as an attack on all.

And yet the Prime Minister appears to believe Australia can continue to thumb its nose at the Americans and suffer no repercussions.

Mr Albanese seems to be going out of his way to antagonise the US and President Donald Trump.

On Friday he again rebuffed direct demands from the Trump administration to boost defence spending.

“We will invest in the capability that Australia needs. What my job is to look after Australia’s national interest, that includes our defence and security interests and that’s precisely what we are doing.”

He is adamant that Australia will set its own agenda, and appears committed to the plan to raise the military budget to 2.3 per cent of GDP by 2034.

The Americans couldn’t be clearer that they believe this is nowhere near enough.

Meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles earlier this month, US Defence Secretary Pete Hesgeth lay out the US’s expectations: 3.5 per cent of GDP. As soon as possible.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt followed that up on Thursday evening with another full-throated warning.

“I mean, look if our allies in Europe and our NATO allies can do it, I think our allies and our friends in the Asia-Pacific region can do it as well,” she said.

Ms Leavitt was also clear that Australia was fast slipping down the President’s list of priorities. Mr Trump had made up a number of meetings with world leaders which had to be abandoned when he left last week’s G7 summit in Canada early to deal with the unfolding Middle East conflict. Several other leaders he had contact by phone.

Mr Albanese has not received such a phone call from Mr Trump.

What purpose does the Prime Minister believe is being served by openly defying the Americans? Clearly, he has a deep personal dislike for Mr Trump. Polling shows Australians share that dislike.

But he is letting that personal animosity cloud his judgment and in doing so is eroding the strength of our most important alliance.

This may seem like hysterical catastrophising. Yes, there are a lot of hypotheticals involved.

But when it comes to something as important as national security, an overabundance of caution is only sensible.