Opinion polls indicate Australians are at last waking up to the fact that their country’s security reliance on Trump’s US is no longer tenable.

Indeed, it never has been. A complete foreign policy overhaul is now urgently needed. But Australia’s foreign minister is dithering. Is she not up to the task?

Penny Wong may go down as one of of the great disappointments in Australia’s foreign policy history – a history which itself is as disappointing as it is long. Her formulaic call for “de-escalation, dialogue and diplomacy” in response to the Iran-Israel conflict is a trilogy of words that mean nothing. Despite Trump’s contempt for the US’ allies, she continually mouths the tired old refrain that America is our most important global ally. Her plaintive defence of the AUKUS deal is not only unconvincing, but crazy mad. That Australia was kept out of the loop when Trump decided to unleash the B-2 stealth bombers on Iran’s nuclear sites is proof of the insignificance Washington places on its naïve Aussie ally.

Senator Wong’s greatest mistake has been her failure to steer the country towards a confident and independent role in regional and global affairs. She shows no interest in laying the groundwork to help her fellow Australians understand that it’s time for the country to embark on a new path towards that independent status. Such a challenge is not going to be easy; it calls for statesmanship of the highest order and leadership of the highest calibre. Increasingly, it seems, Senator Wong lack both of these attributes.

True independence would be a bold step for Australia to take, but it can no longer be delayed. Reliance on America, or any other “great and powerful friend”, is a thing of the past. We need reminding that it has led to the country’s involvement in conflicts that it should have steered well clear of – involvements which at the time were justified by ideologically-blinkered politicians and media interests to demonstrate craven fealty to the US alliance. And lest we forget, none of those conflicts have ever achieved their stated aims.

Withdrawing from the ANZUS alliance will have to be managed carefully and determinedly. It requires explaining carefully and patiently to Australians how costly the alliance has been, and continues to be. Not the least of these costs has been lives lost and personnel physically and mentally wounded due to past politicians’ ignorant backing of America’s wars. Australians urgently need to be educated about the real and present dangers that the alliance with America now poses for the country, not only because of Trump’s unpredictability and bullying, or because of the demands for increasing Australia’s defence budget by the much tattooed Pete Hegseth, but because America is in terminal decline as a great power. Its end is well and truly in sight.

Meanwhile, Senator Wong faithfully toes the government’s propaganda lines that the incorrigible AUKUS plan is important and achievable, and that the ANZUS alliance is in good shape. Her commentaries on what is happening in the world are shallow and unconvincing. A wide sector of the very brightest academic and policy commentators have made clear how ridiculous AUKUS is, yet Senator Wong thumbs her nose at them, while lamely parroting Richard Marles’ line, that AUKUS is in Australia’s best security interests. Many people — including many rank and file Labor members — heartily disagree. Does she know this? Does she care?

Nor has the Senator articulated a vision for Australia’s foreign policy future. She demonstrates little interest in what younger Australians think about how their country should be positioning itself in its region and globally. This, at a time when there should be informed and intelligent public discussions about the parlous state of the ANZUS treaty with the US. These discussions should include canvassing a range of post-ANZUS alternatives before Trump (or his successor) pulls the plug on the whole deal.

There is no sign that Senator Wong, or anyone else in the Albanese go-slow government, has an inkling about what post-ANZUS options Australia should be considering. They obviously don’t have the intellectual wherewithal to think about such a challenge. They believe that abject obeisance to Uncle Sam is all we need as the foundation of the country’s security policy. That view passed its use-by date decades ago. Does Senator Wong not see this?

The first plank of a post-ANZUS Australian foreign policy has to be an understanding of the fact that China is now undeniably a great power in the country’s region. It is “great and powerful”, but will not be a friend if it is mindlessly provoked (as it was by the Morrison Government during the COVID crisis). It has both the economic and military power to demand that its presence be respected, no matter how disagreeable this may be at the time. This means Australia’s foreign policy response to China must bypass the China hawks in the parliament, in the Murdoch media, and in the bureaucracy. Relations with China — our major trading partner — need to be handled with infinite care by diplomats and politicians who have a deep understanding of the language, history, culture and politics of the country. This means facing up to the fact that the Chinese state is now the major force that has to be reckoned with in the Asia Pacific, that America is simultaneously retreating and declining in the region, and that it is in Australia’s national interest to negotiate. and carefully manage, a mutually beneficial quid pro quo relationship with Beijing.

Of course, Australia can’t do this on its own. To achieve a balanced and sensible relationship with China will require developing regional networks and alliances with neighbouring states that have similar diplomatic and security interests. Nostalgia for ties with Britain and Europe has to be recognised for the immature and regressive nonsense that it is. And any residual sentimental ties with America have to be recognised for what they are – mere sentimentality.

Modern Australia’s great challenge today is to truly integrate itself into its geopolitical region through education (first and foremost), trade, diplomacy, cultural exchanges, security alliances, regional organisations and, above all, with humility and sensitivity. There is no evidence that Senator Wong is either interested in, or has the capacity to articulate such an approach. Nor do Albanese or Marles. Australia needs a new generation of political leaders who can formulate and put into action a considered and peace-oriented regional and global role for the country.

Dr Allan Patience is an Honorary Fellow in the School of Social and Political Sciences in the University of Melbourne.

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.