Marles would not comment specifically on whether he had raised concerns with Hegseth about the Trump administration’s decision to dismantle US government aid programs that directed funding to essential services across the region, which experts have warned would create a soft-power vacuum for China to fill. But he said the pair had discussed ways to ensure peace and stability “and that does involve the support of developing countries”.
The pair also discussed the AUKUS defence arrangement, which is scheduled to deliver Australia three Virginia-class submarines by the early 2030s, though Marles did not confirm a guarantee from Hegseth, saying instead: “We’re doing everything we can to see that happen”.
Defence spending was a key issue in the recent federal election campaign, with a Coalition plan to hit the 3 per cent GDP target projected to cost the budget an extra $100 billion through the first half of the 2030s, making it the second-biggest expenditure for federal taxpayers, eclipsing the age pension and NDIS.
Marles has previously defended the government’s plan to pump an extra $50 billion into defence over the next decade. Defence spending is currently hovering just above 2 per cent of GDP, or $56 billion a year.
Hegseth declared the US-Australia alliance was “strong and as robust as it’s ever been”, ahead of his meeting with Marles, the second time the pair has met since the Trump administration took office in January.
The US defence chief will outline America’s “new ambitions for Indo-Pacific security” in a keynote speech on Saturday, against a backdrop of concern among states about the direction of US-China rivalry, after the Trump administration has used its opening months to withdraw from multilateral organisation such as the Paris Agreement, withdraw foreign aid, and wage a trade war that has upended supply chains and shaken alliances.
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Marles, in a speech to be delivered as part of a ministerial roundtable, will warn that the global arms control regime from the Cold War era has fallen into “dangerous decline”, with a key treaty between the US and Russia on nuclear proliferation due to expire next year.
“This leaves no legally binding limits on the strategic nuclear arsenals of the two largest nuclear powers for the first time since 1972,” Marles is expected to say.
“China’s decision to pursue rapid nuclear modernisation and expansion, which aims in part to reach parity with or surpass the United States, is another reason the future of strategic arms control must be revitalised. And that is a difficult and daunting project.”
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