Reflections on the Australia-USA alliance
An interview with the Hon Arthur Sinodinos AO, Australia’s Ambassador to the United States of America from February 2020 until February 2023.
Q. Your time in Washington as Australia’s Ambassador to the US, beginning in February 2020, was shaped by significant events including the COVID-19 pandemic, the change in US administration and the announcement of AUKUS. What are some of your key reflections navigating a dynamic and challenging environment over the past three years? If you had said to me before I arrived there would be a once- in-a-century pandemic, a deep economic recession, Black Lives Matter protests in the summer, an election that ended in a riot at the Capitol in 2021 and then Russia invading Ukraine, I would have said it would not be possible to have so many Black Swan events. This has reminded me that change is the only constant. We must accept that disruption will occur. We can see this for example in the Indo-Pacific, where geostrategic
Major announcements on AUKUS will give further definition not only to the optimal pathway for nuclear-powered submarines, but also the advanced capabilities of Pillar 2, including areas like AI, machine learning, cyber, quantum, hypersonics and electronic warfare. We see AUKUS as a way to deepen collaboration not just on capability, but also information-sharing and integration of our industrial bases. So, it’s a very exciting development and it shows that the relationship between Australia and the US is getting stronger and stronger. Q. What do you see as some of the key opportunities in the bilateral trade and investment relationship over the next few years – and does AUSFTA have a role to play in this? AUSFTA has been critical to how Australia does business in the US and has underpinned a significant expansion in two-way trade and investment. We are adding to the trade and investment relationship, and we see major opportunities as the US looks to re-orient supply chains in light of the pandemic and changing geostrategic circumstances. Australia has the opportunity to be a partner of choice for the US in many critical areas, particularly those where economics and national security overlap.
One that is becoming increasingly important is critical minerals: this has become an area of strategic interest and the US has launched several initiatives, including the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework and the Mineral Security Partnership to create more secure supply chains among trusted allies and partners. Australia stands in very good stead to be part of this process, because we have the capacity to complement America’s clean energy goals whilst promoting Australia’s capacity to produce and process the critical minerals which are so important to electric vehicles, batteries and magnets. We launched our Critical Minerals Prospectus in December, showcasing 55 investment-ready Australian critical minerals projects that have the potential to address forecast production shortfalls, build supply chain security and deliver progress on the net zero future – and we have a government that is prepared to back the industry and promote greater value-added processing in Australia. We are also working with the US in a number of areas of critical and emerging technologies, both in terms of rules and standards in the context of the Quad and working with the US to establish greater integration of our industrial bases. AUKUS will be very important to that process.
circumstances are bringing America and Australia closer
together, and this has been typified by the announcement of the AUKUS capability pact between Australia, the USA and the UK. AUKUS will strengthen our capacity to project power in our own region, and will make, we believe, an important contribution towards stabilisation in the Indo-Pacific.
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business envoy
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
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