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Australia - United States relations refers to international relations between Australia and the United States of America. Australia has also traditionally been aligned with the Commonwealth of Nations, however Australia has continually strengthened its relationship with the United States since 1942, as Britain's influence in Asia declined.
At the governmental level, United-States-Australia relations are formalised by the ANZUS treaty and the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement. Australia is the only country to have served alongside the United States in every major conflict since WWII.
Both the United States and Australia share some common ancestry and history (see British Empire), having both been British colonies. Both countries had native peoples who were dispossessed of their land. Both have been part of the Western alliance of nations in various wars. There are numerous other similarities.
The penal colonies of Australia were actually a redirect from the Thirteen Colonies, for indentured and penal transportation for debtors was officially first begun in the Province of Georgia. Britain could no longer send convicts to British America in a rebellious climate, so the best choice was in newly discovered land by James Cook in 1770. This resulted in the founding of New South Wales in 1788
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In 1908, Prime Minister Alfred Deakin invited the Great White Fleet to visit Australia during its circumnavigation of the world. The fleet stopped in Sydney, Melbourne and Albany. Deakin, a strong advocate for an independent Australian Navy, used the visit to raise the public's enthusiasm about a new navy.
The visit was significant in that it marked the first occasion that a non-Royal Navy fleet had visited Australian waters. Many saw the visit of the Great White Fleet as a major turning point in the creation of the Royal Australian Navy. Shortly after the visit, Australia ordered its first modern warships, a purchase that angered the British Admiralty.[1]
In 1942, Australian Prime Minister John Curtin put U.S. General Douglas MacArthur in direct command of the Australian military, which comprised the majority of MacArthur's forces at the time. MacArthur's headquarters were located in Brisbane until 1944 and Australian forces remained under MacArthur's overall command until the end of World War II. The U.S. Embassy opened in 1943.
After the war, the American presence in the southeast Pacific increased immensely, most notably in Japan and the Philippines. In view of the cooperation between the Allies during the war, the decreasing reliance of Australia and New Zealand on the United Kingdom, and America's desire to cement this post-war order in the Pacific, the ANZUS Treaty was signed by Australia, New Zealand and the United States in 1951.[2] This full three-way military alliance replaced the ANZAC Pact that had been in place between Australia and New Zealand since 1944.
Australia has been involved in most major American military endeavours since World War II including the Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War and both Iraq Wars—all without invocation of ANZUS. The alliance has only been invoked once, for the invasion of Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C..
Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, in which eleven Australian citizens were also killed, there was an enormous outpouring of sympathy from Australia for the United States. Prime Minister John Howard became one of President George W. Bush's strongest international supporters, and supported the United States in the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
In 2004 the Bush Administration "fast tracked" a free trade agreement with Australia. The Sydney Morning Herald called the deal a "reward" for Australia's contribution of troops to the Iraq invasion.[3][4]
However, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd indicated that the 550 Australian combat troops in Iraq would be removed by mid-2008. Despite this, there have been suggestions from the Australian government that might lead to an increase in numbers of Australian troops in Afghanistan to roughly 1,000.[5]
In 2011 during US president Obama's trip to Australia, it was announced that United States Marine Corps and United States Air Force units will be rotated through Australian Defence Force bases in northern Australia to conduct training. This deployment was criticised by the an editorial in the Chinese state-run newspaper People's Daily and Indonesia's foreign minister[6], but welcomed[7][8] by Australia's Prime Minister. A poll by the independent Lowy Institute think tank showed that a majority (55%) of Australians approving of the marine deployment[9] and 59% supporting the overall military alliance between the two countries.[10]
Since 1985, there have been annual ministerial consultations between the two countries, known as AUSMIN. The venue of the meeting alternates between the two countries. It is attended by senior government ministers such as the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Australian Minister for Defence, US Secretary of Defense and US Secretary of State.[11]
The first Australian visit by a President[12] was that of Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966 to seek support for Australia's ongoing involvement in the Vietnam war. Australia had previously sent advisers and combat troops to Vietnam. In 1992, George H. W. Bush was the first of four US Presidents to address a joint meeting of the Australian Parliament.
| Dates | President | Cities visited | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20–23 October 1966 | Lyndon B. Johnson | Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Townsville | State visit; met with Governor-General Richard Casey and Prime Minister Harold Holt. First US president to visit Australia.[13] |
| 21–22 December 1967 | Lyndon B. Johnson | Melbourne | Attended memorial service for Prime Minister Harold Holt and conferred with other attending heads of state. |
| 31 December 1991 – 3 January 1992 | George H. W. Bush | Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne | Met with Prime Minister Paul Keating and senior Australian officials; addressed a joint meeting of the Australian Parliament. |
| 19–23 November 1996 | Bill Clinton | Sydney, Canberra, Port Douglas | State visit. Addressed joint meeting of Parliament and visited the Great Barrier Reef. |
| 22 October 2003 | George W. Bush | Canberra | Met with Prime Minister John Howard and addressed Parliament. |
| 2–5 September 2007 | George W. Bush | Sydney | Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Conference. |
| 16-17 November 2011 | Barack Obama | Canberra, Darwin | Met with Prime Minister Julia Gillard and addressed Parliament. |
| Dates | Prime Minister | Cities/Countries visited | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| April and May 1944[14] | John Curtin | San Francisco, Washington, Warm Springs, New York City | Meeting with President Roosevelt and travel to and from the Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference in London |
| 9 May 1946[15] | Ben Chifley | Washington | Met with President Truman for 15 minutes |
| 28 July 1950[16] | Robert Menzies | Washington | Met with President Truman for half the day |
| 19 May 1952[16] | Robert Menzies | Washington | Met with President Truman |
| 20 December 1952[16] | Robert Menzies | Washington | Met with President Truman for informal dinner |
| 2 October 1960[17] | Robert Menzies | Washington | Met with President Eisenhower and Prime Minister MacMillan of the United Kingdom. |
| 24 February 1961[18] | Robert Menzies | Washington | Met with President Kennedy and discussed SEATO, ANZUS and LAOS. |
| 20 June 1962[18] | Robert Menzies | Washington | Met with President Kennedy and discussed West New Guinea, Vietnam,Anzus and the EU. |
| 8 July 1963 [19] | Robert Menzies | Washington | met with President Kennedy. |
| 24 June 1964[20] | Robert Menzies | met with President Johnson. | |
| 7 June 1965[21] | Robert Menzies | met with President Johnson. | |
| June 1966[22] | Harold Holt | Met with President Johnson and endorsed the USA's Vietnam policy. His speech included the words 'All the way with LBJ'. | |
| 27 to 30 May 1968 [23] | John Gorton | Washington and LBJ ranch | Met with President Johnson and discussed Vietnams. |
| 6 May 1969 [24] | John Gorton | Washington | Met with President Nixon and discussed Vietnam. |
| 2 November 1971 [25] | William McMahon | Washington | Met with President Nixon and discussed bilateral issues and commitment to the ANZUS treaty. |
| NA[26] | Gough Whitlam | No visit. Nixon had not extended an invitation due to irritation over a letter from Whitlam criticising bombing in North Vietnam. Whitlam was prepared to visit in June 1973 without an official invitation "Official invitations are not necessary in these circumstances".[27] | |
| 27 July 1977[28] | Malcolm Fraser | met with President Carter. | |
| 30 June 1981[29] | Malcolm Fraser | met with President Reagan. | |
| 17 April 1986[30][31] | Bob Hawke | US/Australian relations | met with President Reagan. US offered a USD5M gift for Australia's bicentennial celebrations for the proposed Australian Maritime Museum.[32] |
| 22–24 June 1988[31] | Bob Hawke | Washington, D.C. | met with President Reagan and other government officials. |
| 14 September 1993[33] | Paul Keating | Seattle,Washington | APEC meeting - met with President Clinton. |
| 7–15 July 2000[34] | John Howard | Japan and USA | |
| 4–8 September 2000[35][36] | John Howard | Millennium Summit and Commonwealth High Level Review Group | |
| 8–14 June 2001[37] | John Howard | ||
| 8–14 September 2001[37] | John Howard | State Visit. Was to address a joint sitting of the US Congress on 12 September, but this was cancelled due to the September 11, 2001 attacks. | |
| 28 January-8 February 2002[37] | John Howard | ||
| 8–16 February 2003[38] | John Howard | ||
| 1–10 May 2005[39] | John Howard | New York City, Washington, D.C. | State visit; Addressed the 60th anniversary session of the United Nations in New York City |
| 8–14 May 2006[40] | John Howard | ||
| March/April 2008[41] | Kevin Rudd | Washington | Part of 17-day world tour to China, the US, the UK and Europe. Met with George Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.[42] Also met with several presidential candidates.[43] |
| March 2011 | Julia Gillard | Washington | Met with President Obama and addressed joint sitting of Congress. |
| November 2011 | Julia Gillard | Honolulu, Hawaii | APEC meeting - met with President Obama. |
Australia's Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, ratified the Kyoto Protocol on December 3, 2007, leaving the United States as the last major industrial nation not to ratify the agreement.[5] Australia's previous government, led by Liberal John Howard, refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol citing, along with the United States, that it would "damage their economies".[44]
Some aspects of Australian legal traditions are modeled after its American counterparts.[45]
The Obama administration has questioned the Labor governments plan to introduce an internet censorship scheme, claiming it opposes the United States foreign policy of encouraging an open internet to spread economic growth and global security. Communications Minister Stephen Conroy says that internet censorship will stop the spread of child pornography from a blacklist of websites, however it was reported that the censorship scheme will prevent the flow of information and would probably be ineffective in combating the spread of child pornography and criminal activities.[46] The United States State Department spokesperson said "The U.S. and Australia are close partners on issues related to cyber matters generally, including national security and economic issues, we do not discuss the details of specific diplomatic exchanges, but can say that in the context of that ongoing relationship, we have raised our concerns on this matter with Australian officials." A spokesperson for Senator Conroy declined to comment, however saying only that the Australian and U.S. governments "liaise regularly on a broad range of issues and it would be inappropriate to discuss the details of these consultations".[47]
Trade between the United States and Australia is strong, as evidenced by the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement. The United States is Australia’s fourth largest export market and its second largest source of imports.[48] The United States is also the largest investor in Australia while Australia is the fifth largest investor in the US.
Australia and the United States also provide significant competition for each other in several third-party exports such as wheat, uranium and wool and, more recently, in the information technology sector. Although the US has a sizable sheep population, American imports of lamb meat from Australia and New Zealand remain stronger than the domestic output.
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