Increased reliance on the US as an ally has compromised the capabilities of Australia's sovereign defence industry, a senior Liberal warns, calling on the nation to ramp up its own security to balance the relationship.
In a speech to the Robert Menzies Institute in Melbourne on Thursday, opposition industry spokesman Andrew Hastie said Australia had incurred "strategic trade-offs" in doubling down on its alliance with Washington.
"It has cost us sovereign capabilities like a robust defence industry, and our strategic freedom of action in ways that we are now discovering," he said.
"We forgot the hard lessons of war, and outsourced our security to the United States."
Mr Hastie pointed to the fuel crisis triggered by the Middle East conflict and Australia's deindustrialisation as examples of the nation betting too much on the dominance of the US.
The Liberal frontbencher and former special forces officer said if the security alliance with the US was to endure for another 75 years, Australia needed to urgently invest in its industrial base and defence force.
"We must grow our industrial might and hard power," he said.
Some security experts have raised concerns Australia will not be sold the nuclear-powered Virginia-class submarines promised under the AUKUS agreement as US shipyards come under increasing pressure.
Referencing the Trump administration's declaration the US military will no longer be used to "uphold cloud-castle abstractions" such as the rules-based order, Mr Hastie said Washington shouldn't be expected to guarantee much except its own strategic interests.
"President Trump confirms this reality almost every day with his robust messaging about America's traditional allies," he said.
"That means Australia needs to get serious about our own national security."
The US president has used social media to publicly blast Australia and other partners over their reluctance to militarily support the war against Iran.
