Canadian PM Mark Carney offers to team up with Australia as ‘strategic cousins’ to push back against dominant superpowers

Canada and Australia will be stronger negotiating together with superpowers including Donald Trump’s America, acting as “strategic cousins” rather than competitors, Mark Carney has told the Australian federal parliament.In a major address in Canberra on the last full day of his visit to Australia, the Canadian prime minister called for enhanced cooperation on critical minerals, defence and trade and announced Australia would join the G7 critical minerals alliance, the largest grouping of democratic countries with major reserves in the world.Carney also said he had come to Australia to reaffirm the alliance between Ottawa and Canberra, amid the “global architecture now breaking down from consecutive crises.”Combined, Canada and Australia produce 34% of global lithium stocks, 32% of uranium supply and 41% of iron ore.“In the old world, and even to a degree today, the temptation has been to see ourselves as competitors,” he said after a ceremonial welcome on Thursday morning.“In this new world, we should be strategic collaborators. To boost investments, accelerate technical cooperation, enhance supply chain resilience, expand our domestic processing abilities, while boosting our strategic autonomy.”In a speech to the Lowy Institute in Sydney on Wednesday night, Carney softened his support for US and Israeli strikes on Iran. He said while he welcomed the end of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s regime, he did not believe the attacks on Iran were legal, and that they represent “another example of the failure of the international order.”Carney said the US and Israeli strikes appeared to be unlawful in that they were not made with UN Security Council support, or in the face of imminent threat.“The action that was taken, we weren’t consulted on it,” he said. “There was not a process, a broader process for it. It would appear, prima facie … to be inconsistent with international law.”Carney has won praise around the world for pushing renewed middle-power diplomacy, calling time on the international rules-based order and urging countries including Australia, Japan, India, South Korea and Canada to band together to protect institutions and advance mutual interests.His speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos in January was seen as the strongest pushback on the Trump administration, and other superpowers including China, urging countries not to mourn the post-World War II international structure for too long, and instead to pivot to protect and enhance national sovereignty.On Thursday he said Canada and Australia were correct to build up defence capabilities, including next-generation drones, surveillance aircraft, cyber, and AI tools.As members of the international coalition of the willing planning for peace in Ukraine, once an end to the war sparked by Russia’s invasion is secured, Carney said countries will be required to “provide robust security guarantees” to stop conflict in Europe.“At the same time, we know that we must work with other middle powers to build our sovereign AI capabilities, so we are not caught between hyper-scalers and hegemons,” Carney said.“Which is why Canada is collaborating with like-minded nations in Europe, and why we are partnering with Australia and India in a trilateral AI initiative to bolster our cooperation, and sovereign capacity.”Australia has maintained strong support for the strikes on Iran, which have sparked a growing conflict in the Middle East, disruption in the economy and chaos in international travel.Albanese and the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, maintain questions of international law related to the strikes are questions for the US and Israel.Carney will hold meetings with the governor general, Sam Mostyn, and the opposition leader, Angus Taylor, in Canberra. He is also due to hold a joint press conference with Albanese later on Thursday.He said Canada and Australia “are both nations still in the making.”“The important work of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples is ongoing. We continue to strive so that everyone has equal opportunities regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, or theirstarting point in life.“This work is not a sign of weakness — rather it is the product of a confidence that honestly acknowledges when we fail and relentlessly strives to do better.”