For 100 years, the Australian military has fought alongside or followed the United States into major conflict zones around the world.
Australian and American servicemen and women have fought and died together in the two world wars, Korea, Vietnam, East Timor, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Former US President George Bush famously called Australia America’s sheriff in south-east Asia.
But Donald Trump has put US military allies on notice, particularly if they’re not dedicating near enough to 2 per cent of their GDP on defence spending.
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Mr Trump has called out Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia and indicated he would renegotiate defence deals with them.
So does Australia have anything to worry about?
“The Americans aren't accusing us of being a strategic bludger, they're unlikely to accuse us of being a strategic bludger and as long as we don't bludge on them, we're not going to have a problem,” the Australia Defence Association’s Neil James said.
“The GDP mark is a NATO benchmark and a majority of the NATO partners aren’t reaching it.
"We’re just reaching it now. As long as we spend enough on our own defence rather than bludge on the Americans all the time, we shouldn’t have too many worries.”
The Australian government spent question time in Parliament House today reassuring the nation that security ties with the US were strong.
"As long as we spend enough on our own defence rather than bludge on the Americans all the time, we shouldn’t have too many worries.”
“Australia has close, indeed intimate, security arrangements with other friends and allies, but our alliance with the United States is unquestionably our single most important security relationship,” Prime Minister Turnbull said.
They include the rotation of thousands of US Marines through Darwin in the Northern Territory, a secretive joint intelligence base in central Australia and numerous military exercises and exchanges in the region.
“There's an affinity there that goes beyond just pure national interest; my sense is that's going to have an enduring resonance,” the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre’s John Blaxland said.
“It's a web of networks and arrangements that basically mean we're intimately tied in with them.
“While that might evolve, subject to review, the essence of it is unlikely to be fundamentally altered.”
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