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Australia and the United States convened a key dialogue between their defence leadership this week.
Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles, accompanied by Australian ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd, recently met with US Vice President JD Vance, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.
Details of the discussion on 27 August have been closely guarded with the meeting reportedly detailing, vaguely, the US–Australia relationship in general.
“The alliance between Australia and the United States is long-standing, built on our shared history of deep collaboration,” Minister Marles said.
“I was pleased to have the opportunity to reaffirm Australia’s commitment to building on this partnership with US VP JD Vance and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in Washington DC today.”
It was previously advised that Deputy PM Marles would travel to the United States this week to meet with senior US administration officials and participate in several defence industry engagements.
“I was pleased to speak with Secretary Hegseth at the Shangri-La Dialogue in May and welcome the opportunity in Washington to build on our valuable discussions of shared defence and security matters,” he said at the time.
“Given the shared challenges we face in our region, I look forward to reaffirming our commitment to the alliance and advancing our strong partnership.”
The Defence minister also met with Anduril global defence senior vice president Greg Kausner at the Australian embassy in Washington DC.
