The White House聽聽that Australian Prime Minister鈥檚 four-day trip to Washington was about a 鈥渃elebration鈥 of the United States-Australia alliance.
But the PM didn鈥檛 get everything he wanted: critical bills which would breathe life into the AUKUS military alliance, namely the ship transfer legislation, export control legislation, and a supplementary budget request for submarine industrial base support, have yet to be passed.
Other measures, such as cooperation on new technology, artificial intelligence and space were announced.
Minister for Resources and聽Northern Australia聽聽a new聽Australia-US Taskforce on critical minerals.
She said Labor would spend聽$2 billion to聽subsidise聽mining corporations to聽boost their expansion of critical minerals,聽including cobalt, lithium, manganese and rare earths,聽Australia holds one the聽聽and is seeking to overtake China 鈥 which has enjoyed a near monopoly.
These announcements enabled Labor to spruik the 鈥渢hird pillar鈥 of the US-Australia alliance: climate and clean energy.
聽a gathering of Republicans and Democrats 鈥 including new House speaker Republican Mike Johnson (who had backed Donald Trump鈥檚 bid to overturn the 2020 election) 鈥 to pass the bills necessary for Australia to move forward with obtaining its AUKUS submarines.
While some Republicans oppose the US helping build the nuclear-powered submarines, arguing the US doesn鈥檛 have capacity, others from the US Navy and Department of Defence say helping Australia is important.
鈥淎UKUS is a call to action to strengthen our trilateral defence ecosystem,鈥 Department of Defence under-secretary Marla Karlin told a Congressional hearing on October 25.
Biden submitted his emergency proposal for US$3.4 billion to support the submarine industrial base a few days before Albanese arrived in Washington. It was part of a larger package that included $50 billion for weapons for Ukraine and aid for Israelis and Palestinians.
Biden and Albanese are聽聽on the ability of US shipyards to deliver 鈥 with聽聽鈥斅爐wo Virginia-class nuclear powered submarines a year. In addition, the US Navy has prioritised production of the first of 12 Columbia-class nuclear ballistic-missile submarines.
For months now, the聽聽in Congress about delivering on the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine deal. But Albanese said he was聽鈥渧ery confident鈥 that Congress would approve changes to technology export controls to ensure Australia would gain the three Virginia-class submarines early next decade.
鈥淲e were laser-focused on AUKUS and the legislation that鈥檚 required, and there鈥檚 been big steps forward on that,鈥澛犅爋n October 27.
We can assume that US politicians have clocked the dissent inside Labor to the聽AUKUS nuclear submarines. But, given that this was Albanese鈥檚聽聽since being elected last year, they would also be aware that the PM is determined to support the US鈥檚 imperial aims in the Asia-Pacific.