An enduring tradition

AUKUS continues an historic tradition of democratic allies partnering together to promote liberal values. By Melissa McIntosh.

Australia's national security has long been founded on our partnerships with fellow liberal democracies.

The newly established trilateral partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, known as AUKUS, is no exception.

This alliance will provide the platform upon which Australia will generate greater joint capability, from our submarine fleet to cyber security, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies and additional undersea capabilities.

AUKUS is a modern rendition of a historic tradition — Australia working together with our democratic partners to promote shared liberal values.

For 70 years, Australia’s national security has been underpinned by another democratic partnership in ANZUS. The ANZUS Treaty between Australia, New Zealand and the US was signed by the government of Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies in 1951 and it has been the foundation of our national security since its inception.

Despite being self-proclaimed “British to the bootstraps”, Menzies established this pioneering agreement which would bind Australia in partnership with the US and later spoke of it as one of the principal achievements of his tenure as Prime Minister, codifying the relationship between Australia and its great and powerful friend.

Menzies recognised that shared values is what brings democracies together. He knew them well, having used them to forge the Liberal Party of Australia and observed them in action within Australia’s relationships with the UK and the US.

These shared values ensured the ANZUS Treaty would stand the test of time. Recently, in recalling the 20th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, we were reminded of the first invocation of the ANZUS Treaty, by then-Prime Minister John Howard.

In passionately advocating for the ANZUS Treaty’s application, Mr Howard referenced “the comradeship, the friendship and the common bonds of democracy and belief in liberty, fraternity and justice” between Australia and the United States that compelled us to be at their side.

While this remains the only invocation in its proud 70-year history, the values and bonds codified in just over 800 words have served as the cornerstone upon which we have faced, and overcome, our shared challenges.

The combined efforts in the withdrawal of Afghanistan and the evacuation of Kabul demonstrated Australia’s commitment to stand by its allies right from the start. We are now at the start of a new era in our relationship with the US, this time with another close friend and ally, the UK.

This is an agreement that will draw Australia closer than ever before to the democracies that have been an ever-present pillar of our national security and economic prosperity.

The opening act will be the acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines. AUKUS will grant access to decades of experience and technical expertise of the UK and US in managing these highly sophisticated vessels.

The acquisition of these submarines, and enhanced collaboration across a range of industries, will ensure Australia maintains our capability edge in a hotly contested environment.

Australia will pull our weight in the global community. As Prime Minister Morrison says, Australia will look to the US but will never leave it to the US.

When I worked at the US Studies Centre between 2011-2015, the Australia-US bilateral relationship in a domestic context dominated conventional discourse.

Things have changed since then. We have now brought the Indo-Pacific into the spotlight, reaffirming our commitment and increasing the engagement of the UK and US for the benefit of the entire region.

Things have also changed since the eras of Prime Ministers Howard and Menzies. But what hasn’t changed is what makes the foundations of a liberal democracy, and the importance of partnerships in upholding these values.

Australia has stood by the UK and the US for over a century, as they have stood by us.

We have always been a liberal democracy bound by our values to pursue peace and prosperity in our region.

Melissa McIntosh is the Liberal Member of Parliament for the NSW federal seat of Lindsay. This article was first published in The Daily Telegraph and has been reproduced here with the author’s permission.