Foreign Minister Penny Wong will travel to Washington D.C. this week to attend a meeting of foreign ministers from the Quad nations—Australia, the United States, India and Japan.
The summit, hosted by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, marks the second such gathering in just six months.
“This will be the second Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting within six months, reflecting the importance of our partnership and the strategic circumstances confronting our region and the world,” Wong said in a statement.
She described the trip as an opportunity to reinforce shared priorities.
“I look forward to engaging with my Quad counterparts as we strengthen cooperation to ensure a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” she said.
Alliance in Focus Amid Global Tensions
Wong reaffirmed the strength of Australia’s alliance with the United States, calling it “our closest ally and principal strategic partner.”
“Our alliance contributes to the peace, prosperity and stability of our countries and the region we share.”
Her visit comes amid pressure from the Trump administration, which has called on Australia to raise defence spending from just over 2 percent of GDP, to at least 3.5 percent—roughly an $60.5 billion per year.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has remained non-committal to extra defence spending.
Further, five months into Trump’s presidency, Albanese has yet to meet with the leader face to face—prompting calls from Opposition Leader Sussan Ley for Albanese at attend the upcoming NATO summit.
Ley said it was time for Australia to “stand with the United States, our allies and like-minded countries.”
Yet Albanese has sent Defence Minister Richard Marles to the NATO gathering in the Netherlands, where Trump reportedly hopes to meet with Indo-Pacific leaders.
Albanese said the leaders of countries like Japan and South Korea were also skipping NATO.
