Diplomatic triumph or lucky escape? Why Trump swung in behind AUKUS
At the exact time Anthony Albanese was meeting Donald Trump and other senior officials at the White House, just one mile away another antipodean official was being welcomed to the Pentagon. New Zealand Defence Minister Judith Collins, a former leader of the conservative National Party, was warmly greeted by undersecretary of defence for policy Elbridge Colby, one of the Pentagon’s most senior figures. The photographs, including a happy snap with War Secretary Pete Hegseth, who rushed back from the White House, told the story of what Collins called “an excellent meeting with excellent friends”. It stood in stark contrast with the strange reception in August for Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles, who travelled to Washington for a meeting with Hegseth that turned out not to be locked in. When the pair did cross paths it was degradingly described by the Pentagon as a “happenstance encounter”, before a spokesman backtracked and said the meeting was arranged in advance. Why the love-in? Colby, for one, is a big fan of Collins, who is saying all the things he wants to hear. Two weeks before Marles’ trip to Washington she told the ABC that Australia and New Zealand must increase defence spending.
