U.S.-Australia Defense Trade Cooperation Treaty: Australian Prime Minister Howard (2007)

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• published: 18 Apr 2012
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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, Australia--United States 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. Following the September 11 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.[4][5] 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.[6] 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[7], but welcomed[8][9] 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[10] and 59% supporting the overall military alliance between the two countries.[11] The Obama administration has questioned the Gillard Government's 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.[47] 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".[48] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia%E2%80%93United_States_relations