Prime Minister Anthony Albanese can hardly be surprised that President Donald Trump didn’t meet him at the G7 summit this week. Trump had more important things to do, leaving early to address the war between Israel and Iran. But even if had he stayed, why would he prioritise a meeting with a leader who has gone out of his way to insult him and diminish our alliance?

In previous years, Albanese and Ambassador Kevin Rudd, have made insulting comments about Trump. Worse, in his re-election campaign Albanese demonised Trump and his policies.

When US Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth recently urged Australia to increase its commitment to 3.5 per cent of GDP – only what the US spends –  Albanese dismissed the call, insisting that it was up to Australia decide what to spend on defence. Of course. But Australia’s defence spending is manifestly inadequate languishing at or below two per cent of GDP, well behind historical benchmarks set during the Cold War.

Trump has made it clear that the US will not support allies that refuse to invest in their own defence, so it would be foolhardy to assume that we can rely on the US to come to our aid when we refuse to pull our weight in our alliance with them.

The reality is that Australia’s military is suffering from critical capability gaps. The Army is under-equipped for high-intensity conflict, lacking long-range strike power, air defence, and rapid deployment capability. The Navy faces severe delays in shipbuilding, and struggles with fleet readiness due to ageing platforms and maintenance backlogs. The Air Force, though possessing modern aircraft like the F-35, lacks sufficient numbers of long-range missiles, airborne refuelling, and drone integration to operate effectively in the contested Indo-Pacific environment. Across the board, personnel shortages, recruitment failures, and budget shortfalls undermine readiness, deterrence and morale.

Albanese declined to contribute forces to the US-led coalition protecting global shipping from Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, citing inadequate drone capacity– a telling indictment of our readiness.

He skipped the most recent Nato summit when other Indo‑Pacific partners (Japan, South Korea, New Zealand) attended, sending a message of disengagement from the Western security architecture.

This comes at a cost. More than seven months after Trump was elected in November 2024, Albanese has still not met with him.

John Howard happened to be in Washington on September 11, 2001 and he was quickly drawn into the highest-level discussions on America’s response. That was not a coincidence; it was the result of years of careful relationship-building.

At a joint press conference at the G7 this week, Trump and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer affirmed their conmmitment to Aukus without even inviting Albanese.

One can only assume that this is because the Pentagon is reviewing whether Australia’s membership of Aukus aligns with Trump’s America First agenda, both because the US views Australia’s defence spending as too low and because delivering up to five Virginia‑class subs to Australia starting in 2032 may undermine US naval strength.

As for the Quad, the democratic counterweight to Chinese aggression, its strong communiques condemning Chinese actions, have been undermined by Albanese’s muted bromides framing Australia’s approach to China as cooperation without confrontation. This is not good enough when Chinese warships have injured Australian Navy divers with sonar pulses, and Chinese jets have endangered RAAF aircraft with chaff and flares, to say nothing of Chinese warships firing live ammunition off the Australian coast without warning, endangering commercial flights.

Chinese aggression towards Taiwan, the US, India, Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia is equally undeniable  yet Albanese has failed to propose initiatives that strengthen regional security.

The war in the Middle East, like the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has demonstrated that sovereign nations must be able to defend themselves against existential threats.

Israel, a country vastly smaller than Australia in both territory and population, has, since its creation, invested in a matchfit military.

Australia, with its immense resources and strategic depth, has the means to defend itself but the government lacks the will. Our defence force is being asked to do more with less, while China threatens us and our freedom of movement. In response, the government behaves as if we live in a bygone age of benign global order.

A 2024 Lowy Institute poll found that a majority of Australians support increasing defence expenditure but Albanese prefers slogans to strategic investment. His failure to build a relationship with Trump is symptomatic of a broader failure to grasp the world as it is.

Australia’s security is being compromised by Albanese’s naivety, negligence, ideology, and hubris. Until he changes course, Australia will be in danger.