Australia plans for a ‘less certain’ future in Asia — one where the US may not remain the dominant force

As Australia lifts military spending, defence minister Richard Marles is calling for a ‘sustainable strategic balance in the Indo-Pacific – a balance where no state is militarily predominant’. Photograph: Richard Wainwright/AAP

Australia’s defence overhaul has accelerated some projects and cut others and has already prompted a plea from China to abandon a “cold war mentality”.

But as the dust settles on a plan to increase overall military spending, the Albanese government has also sent some significant signals on how it sees the future of the Indo-Pacific region – and these aren’t exactly how Australia’s top security ally, the US, might see things.