Anthony Albanese says Australia not shaken by US threats to Spain on defence spending

Anthony Albanese has held firm that Australia will set its own agenda on defence spending and refused to be drawn on the US placing tariffs pressure on Spain.

It comes as White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the US expected Indo-Pacific partners to follow NATO leaders’ direction and lift spending.

“If our allies in Europe and our NATO allies can do it, I think our allies and our friends in the Asia Pacific region can do it as well,” she told reporters overnight.

The PM was snappy at Sydney reporters on Friday when peppered with questions about whether he was concerned Australia could share Spain’s fate if he didn’t comply with US requests for allies to lift their defence budgets.

“I’m not going to comment on things between Spain and the United States,” Mr Albanese said.

“We will invest in the capability that Australia needs. What my job is to look after Australia’s national interest, that includes our defence and security interests and that’s precisely what we are doing.”

US threats to raise tariffs on Spain came after the prime minister Pedro Sánchez opted-out of the NATO defence spending pledge.

Mr Sánchez rejected the proposal for member states to lift spending to five per cent of their GDP, which would have been a climb from the European nation’s current 2.1 per cent.

“There’s a big focus on Spain … here today,” the PM said, appearing frustrated when pressed on the matter.

“We have increased our defence investment. We’ve increased it by $57 billion over the medium term and by more than $10 billion in the short term.”

The US accused Spain of having a free ride and has been seen as a potential warning for Australia which hasn’t budged despite a request by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth last month.

Labor frontbencher Mark Butler hit back at questions on Friday that Australia could experience the same retribution.

“No one has ever called Australia a free rider,” he said.

“We’ve had a very close relationship, served alongside the Americans in conflict after conflict. “We’re deepening those ties. But we know it’s a conversation we will continue to have with our American friends and partners.”

Former-Australian ambassador to Australia Joe Hockey has warned if Australia doesn’t take a US request to raise defence spending seriously it could become a “tier three” ally.

Mr Hockey said he could understand Mr Albanse’s hesitation to lift defence spending while NATO leaders charge forward in expanding their budgets as his focus is on the Indo-Pacific.

But Mr Hockey warned that Australia needed to step up amid Beijing “aggression”.

“This is Beijing’s aggression that we need to stand up to. Chinese people are great people. It is Beijing,” he told Sky News on Friday.

“I can understand where Anthony Albanese is coming from. His focus is not really Europe, his focus is not really the Middle East. His focus is China and the Indo Pacific.

“But the fact is, we do need the United States. They are crucial to the Indo-Pacific.

“They’ve just shown the world their capability to deliver on their objectives, and importantly, they are a force for good, and have been throughout our history.

“Now we have an open display of incredible power to be able to deliver on the objectives of the Western world, and we should be embracing that, not not fearing it, not being worried or afraid to go to the Oval Office or anywhere else.”