Editorial
Mock orange

Australia’s most significant military ally is now a rogue state. This fact should be more startling than it is. It should be cause for serious reconsideration of the country’s position.

“The Australian Government is monitoring developments in Venezuela,” Anthony Albanese said in a statement on Sunday, a sentence so weak it needed a splint to lie straight on the line.

“We urge all parties to support dialogue and diplomacy in order to secure regional stability and prevent escalation … We continue to support international law and a peaceful, democratic transition in Venezuela that reflects the will of the Venezuelan people.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong used exactly the same wording. She was cautious to insist on not naming the United States or saying what actually happened. “We urge dialogue and diplomacy to ensure regional stability and prevent escalation. We continue to support international law and a peaceful, democratic transition in Venezuela that reflects the will of the Venezuelan people.”

Donald Trump’s raid on Venezuela was plainly illegal. That Albanese and Wong pretend otherwise is extraordinary. Trump has been clear that after the capture of president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, the country is now under American control. He intends to exploit its oil and offers the pretence of blocking the drug trade.

Leaning against a doorframe on his presidential jet, he lists the other countries he would now attack. Colombia “sounds good to me”. Cuba “looks like it’s ready to fall … it’s going down for the count”.

His eyes tighten and he pinches the air. “We need Greenland from a national security situation. It’s so strategic. Right now Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place.”

These are the words of a despot. Trump revels in the absence of accountability. His entire life has been built from the mockery of consequences. He names countries for invasion as if he is playing a board game and is overexcited by the fact he is winning.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt confirms the administration has discussed the possibility of using military force to take Greenland. The wife of Trump’s deputy chief of staff posted a picture of the country, its borders filled in with the American flag, and the word “soon”.

This is the regime to which Australia’s military is inseparably tied. This is the regime whose troops are stationed here, whose satellite surveillance systems operate within our territory.

For decades, analysts such as Hugh White have called on Australian governments to redraw the US alliance. Their concern was not that a madman might occupy the White House but that America had no interest in coming to Australia’s defence and that its influence was waning in a multipolar world.

Instead of heeding this advice, the Albanese government allowed the US to expand its military presence in Australia. He continued with the shakedown of AUKUS, for submarines that will never arrive and would only be used by the US if they did.

That alliance and all it entails is now in the hands of a cretin. The best Australia can do, apparently, is monitor developments.

This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on January 10, 2026 as "Mock orange".

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