CANBERRA — In a plea for common cause, Prime Minister Mark Carney extolled Canada and Australia as “strategic cousins” who must grow even closer to survive the turmoil of a changing world.
Largely a remix of his Davos speech, Carney’s address Thursday to Australia’s parliament was the latest entry in his ongoing case that “middle powers” must band together to avoid domination by “hegemons” like the United States and China.
Ahead of his speech in Australia’s House of Representatives, the prime minister arrived at the bunker-like modern parliament building in Canberra to a 19-gun salute of firing artillery cannons and a brass military band that played the Canadian national anthem. He then inspected a line of straight-backed Australian troops to the tune of “Waltzing Matilda.”
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On critical minerals, defence, artificial intelligence and more, Carney portrayed Canada and Australia as obvious partners — former British colonies with similar histories and government systems that have fought together in conflicts stretching back to the First World War.
“Though we could not be further apart, Canada and Australia are strategic cousins,” Carney told a packed joint sitting of the country’s parliament on Thursday.
“We may look to different skies — the North Star in our hemisphere, the Southern Cross in yours — but we have the same orientation. We share a common heritage, have developed a common perspective, and can build a common future.”
He hailed the agreements signed Thursday in meetings with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, with Carney sitting down with the Australian government’s cabinet. The deals included a new partnership to develop critical minerals that are abundant in each country and necessary for advanced technology like fighter jets, smartphones, AI and electric vehicles.
The governments are also seeking to have more personnel exchanges to help each other combat destructive wildfires like those that have raged in Australia and Canada in recent years
A day after overseeing a new accord between large Australian and Canadian investment funds — which included a target to pump $10 billion of investment into Canada — Carney called for the countries to update tax and investment treaties to ease the two-way flow of money.
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He also said the two countries are intent on helping “bridge” the trading blocs of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and European Union into a new cohort for international commerce.
That, Carney said, would counterbalance what he sees as the major insight that spurs the need for greater collaboration: how great powers are using their commercial importance to influence and dominate other countries.
That can be seen in U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policy, which Carney said a day earlier was being used to “dictate” policies in other countries.
In his speech Thursday, Carney framed Canada and Australia as two nations whose strength in this new context comes from the “trust” they have built over years as reliable trading partners with stable systems of law and government.
“The institutional depth we share, our friendship forged by shared values and common battles, creates a trust that is a strategic asset — a source of power,” Carney said.
“Two nations under different skies, with the same orientation; a friendship built over a century that is ready to build the century that awaits,” he concluded.
Australia’s prime minister was slated to host Carney for a private dinner Thursday evening, before the Canadian leader departs for Japan, the final stop on his Indo-Pacific tour.
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