Join Allan Behm, Director of The Australia Institute’s International & Security Affairs Program, in conversation with Professor Mark Kenny, Director at the Australian Studies Institute at ANU to discuss Allan’s latest book, The Odd Couple: The Australia-America Relationship.

The Odd Couple: the Australia-America relationship, a provocative narrative about recalibrating the relationship between Australia and the USA to deliver peace and prosperity rather than conflict and disharmony.

America matters. Australia matters. They matter to each other. They matter to the world. Their institutional and structural alignments are deep and powerful. Americans believe in themselves. Australians believe in each other. They are mates. They are gregarious. Americans are single-minded and ambitious. Success is the reward for effort. Australians are happy-go-lucky. They do not push themselves too hard. Americans honour success. Australians cut down tall poppies. Both are brash.

There are also many contrasts. America is religious. Australia is secular. Curiously, their differences help to explain why they are so close – and why their relationship is so superficial. ‘National security’ is a major shared interest. So is racism. America’s (and Australia’s) recent wars have all been against non-whites. Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan are worse off for the wars we fought. So are we. Australia supports American adventurism unconditionally. Their focus on security emphasises war, not peace. America is floundering and appears to have lost its way. It needs friends that advise and encourage. It needs Australia.

In The Odd Couple, Allan Behm suggests ways that America and Australia can transcend military glitz to strengthen well-being and human security worldwide. America needs a friend, not a flunkey, and Australia may become its best ally.

Allan Behm, Director, International & Security Affairs Program at the Australia Institute, Canberra, specialises in international and security policy development, political and security risk evaluation, policy analysis and development, and negotiating the policy/politics interface. Following a career spanning nearly 30 years in the Australian Public Service, he was Chief of Staff to Minister for Climate Change and Industry Greg Combet (2009 to 2013) and senior advisor to the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Penny Wong (2017–19).

Professor Mark Kenny is Director at the Australian Studies Institute at ANU, where he hosts the popular podcast series ‘Democracy Sausage’. Mark is the Canberra Times political analyst and a regular on the ABC’s Insiders program, Sky News Agenda, and radio programs across the country.