The Strait of Hormuz is the artery carrying one-fifth of the world’s oil. President Trump’s call for allied warships to protect it from Iranian threats was a test of resolve. Australia’s response was lazy and irresponsible. Refusing to send even a single vessel was to turn our back on the United States. Not just any ally, but the nation that has bled for us and with us, time and again.

In France, on the islands of the Pacific, in Korea, Vietnam, and Afghanistan – even in Darwin – American blood has soaked the same battlefields as ours. Anzus rests on that shared sacrifice. Aukus, our most significant defence enabler in history, is the generational result of it.

Ignoring President Trump’s plea dishonours every Digger who fought beside Americans and signals to the world that Australia cannot be counted on when it matters. We’ve never been here before.

Don’t get me wrong, I know that many second world war Diggers weren’t big fans of the Americans. Some of my grandfather’s mates in his RSL veteran’s retirement home were still cranky that American soldiers stole their girls. (I’m certain these particular Diggers won the fight.) But such sentiment is hardly a basis for our foreign and defence policy.

The Albanese government bears primary responsibility for this shameful retreat. It has delivered the weakest support for the US in living memory. Dithering on Aukus, ignoring the threat to our shipping in the Red Sea, and prioritising domestic optics over strategic duty have become normalised.

Embarrassingly, the rot is bipartisan.

When President Trump rightly called out our refusal, both sides of Parliament scrambled to defend the Albanese government from the snub. Even Andrew Hastie, a former SAS captain who served alongside Americans in Afghanistan, referred to President Trump as ‘petulant’.

Australian politicians are quick to criticise President Trump because the US is a liberal democracy, and therefore open to dissent. So many have personally insulted Mr Trump it was almost fashionable during his first term. Yet when China bullies, coerces, and threatens, none so readily summon the temerity to personally attack China’s President.

One Nation might finally stand up to Beijing where the majors quail, but their foreign and defence policies are vague, offering little clarity on Australia’s place in a dangerous world. Issues-based policies are an important part of political communication, but with no prior experience in government, statements of principle in relation to foreign affairs and defence would go a long way.

Isolationist instincts based on issues of the day risk keeping us sidelined in future conflicts. To abandon support for the US out of head-in-the-sand isolationism would be a generational catastrophe. One Nation’s policy position is merely hypothetical at this stage. Meanwhile Labor’s weakness is happening before our very eyes.

This weakness is costly. Our security depends on American strength. A hollowed US posture in the Middle East invites chaos that hits Australian wallets. We were already heading down the path of energy spikes, supply-chain shocks, and inflation. Blaming the war with Iran when we barely participated as spectators is not a strategy.

Failing to back Washington now plants doubt. Will America defend us when China moves beyond Taiwan or the South China Sea? The Albanese government is eroding the very deterrence that has kept us safe for generations.

Before President Trump, America spent years projecting weakness, letting Iran’s regime run rampant. From Carter to the foggy and negligent Biden, Trump is the only US president to make the enemies of liberal democracy think twice. The era of sparing the rod and hating our children is over.

President Trump’s firm actions against Tehran’s corrupt, murderous theocracy are morally right and strategically vital. They will lead to stable oil markets and help to shield allies while halting weapons proliferation that threatens everyone.

For Australia, after Bondi, the stakes are personal.

Iran’s reach has extended to our suburbs. Tehran has also plotted assassinations of Australian-based dissidents and journalists. At least three foreign regimes, Iran among them, targeted lives here in recent years. Iran’s funding of Hezbollah, the terrorist organisation banned in Australia since 2003, keeps sleeper-cell risks alive. These are not distant problems, they are attacks on our soil.

There is also the stark reality of Australia’s defence paralysis. While training to crew our future Aukus submarines, Australian submariners aboard the USS Charlotte were ordered to their racks like children while the boat torpedoed and sank the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena. Our sailors weren’t even spectators. Such passivity amid direct Iranian threats to Australia compounds the humiliation.

Nobody wants our Defence Force personnel to go to war, but they know the risks. The profession of arms exists to defend our sovereignty, our people, and ultimately our survival. To somehow pretend that serving in the Defence Force has nothing to do with war is absurd.

Regrettably, our nation has become soft. As the saying goes, weak men create hard times.

It is time for Australia to act. Dispatch naval assets to the Strait of Hormuz. Reaffirm the alliance that has protected us for generations. Restore credibility, deter enemies, and safeguard our interests. The US stood with us in our darkest hours. Reciprocity is not optional.

We either stand with strength or cower in weakness. The choices we are already making will define our future.

Following Keir Starmer’s lead at this point in time would be like Prime Minister John Curtin letting the Brits sacrifice the 7th Division of the 2nd AIF at Rangoon. Australia would be better served by following Menzies’ instincts when it came to the US.

Our politicians were keen to import all the Woke craziness of the Obama-Biden era. Now they don’t have the conviction to support the long-overdue strong leader of the free world. Nobody is happy as a result.

The pursuit of happiness, a concept the founding fathers of both the US and Australia understood well, is encapsulated in the Ancient Greek word, arete. Arete refers to the pursuit of a virtue as a journey, rather than a destination. Expecting happiness by leaving others to take the journey for you is anathema to liberal democracy.

Western Civilisation seems content to let the US do the hard yards while reaping the rewards. But President Trump is having none of this. We must heed his words if we wish to be happy.

If we were to do some truth-telling to avoid future intergenerational trauma, we’d support our ally as we have done since the 1940s. That way, future generations won’t need to know what it is like to suffer under a real coloniser. And there’ll be no need to apologise to anyone.

Dr Michael de Percy @FlaneurPolitiq is the Spectator Australia’s Canberra Press Gallery Correspondent. If you would like to support his writing, or read more of Michael, please visit his website.