As a NATO Asia-Pacific Four (AP4) partner - alongside Japan, New Zealand and the Republic of Korea - Australia's Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, attended the June 2022 Madrid NATO Leaders' Summit for the first time.
An enduring alliance with the United States (US) remains Australia's most important defence relationship and continues to act as a crucial force multiplier for Australian Defence Force (ADF) capability.
Shared membership of important global and regional multilateral forums including the G20, APEC and the EAS. Australia has a mature relationship with Russia that allows us to confront our differences directly when necessary but work constructively where our interests intersect.
Since that time, United States has been the most important security ally. The close security relationship with the United States was formalized in 1951 by the Australia, New Zealand, United States Security (ANZUS) Treaty which remains the cornerstone of Australian security arrangements.
Australia is supporting Ukraine though: AUD 475 million in military assistance to deliver important capabilities to the Ukrainian Armed Forces and support its defence.
Bilateral relations
The Australia-China bilateral relationship is based on strong economic and trade complementarities and longstanding community and cultural links. In 2014, the Australian Prime Minister and Chinese President agreed to describe the relationship as a "comprehensive strategic partnership".
For 2022, Australia is ranked 17 of 142 out of the countries considered for the annual GFP review. It holds a PwrIndx* score of 0.2377 (a score of 0.0000 is considered 'perfect').
Australia has strong competitive advantages in its skills, research base, political and legal institutions and high standards of living. Since 1992, the growth of the Australian economy has continued to outpace every other major developed economy.
Australia is a consistent supporter of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and is proud to have contributed important defence, economic and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine in response to Russia's unilateral, illegal and immoral invasion on 24 February 2022.
Switzerland and the UK, too, are quite similar to us. But some of the other countries that end up looking quite similar to Australia might surprise you – Estonia, Latvia, and Chile, for example. Ultimately, there's no one right answer to the question of which countries are most similar to Australia.
Japan describes Australia as its most important security partner after our common ally, the United States. Australia and Japan cooperate closely bilaterally and trilaterally with the United States, including through the Trilateral Strategic Dialogue.
Australia is now home to 2.2 million millionaires, according to a new study. Half of all Australians in 2021 had more than $400,000 in wealth. It means we have the highest median wealth of all the countries studied.
Australia has plentiful supplies of natural resources, including the second largest accessible reserves of iron ore in the world, the fifth largest reserves of coal and significant gas resources.
Australia can become a renewable superpower provided it doesn't have to waste too much energy moving stuff around. Most of the energy in the world is used to move products and people from one place to another. And that is one of the main reasons that has led to increases in emissions during the era of globalisation.
We are one of the largest and most sophisticated naval forces in the Pacific region, with a significant presence in the Indian Ocean and worldwide operations in support of military campaigns and peacekeeping missions.
The Australian Government is placing new sanctions on Moscow's propagandists and purveyors of disinformation, who are trying to legitimatise Russia's unprovoked, unjustified invasion with false narratives such as the “de-Nazification” of Ukraine.
Australia does not possess any nuclear weapons and is not seeking to become a nuclear weapon state. Australia's core obligations as a non-nuclear-weapon state are set out in the NPT.
Australia and India have a positive defence relationship, underpinned by the 2006 Memorandum on Defence Cooperation and the 2009 Joint Declaration on Security Co-operation.
Although Australia is not a member of NATO, it has cooperated with NATO forces by sending military units to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
On 2 March 1942, Australia declared war on Thailand.
Australia's history is different from that of many other nations in that since the first coming of the Europeans and their dispossession of the Aboriginals, Australia has not experienced a subsequent invasion; no war has since been fought on Australian soil. Yet Australians have fought in ten wars.
World War II 1939 to 1945. Korean War 1950 to 1953. Malayan Emergency 1948 to 1960. Indonesian Confrontation 1963 to 1966.