World Immigration News

(Lowy Institute)Why is Australia let off the hook when it presents a bigger target than Europe?

Release Date: 2026-02-27
Media: Lowy Institute
Summary: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s speech at the Munich Security Conference outlined a vision of renewed Western civilisational expansion and dominance, praising centuries of Western global expansion and pledging to restore Western strength. The address, despite its colonial overtones, was warmly received by European security elites, who appeared relieved by its tone of solidarity compared to President Trump’s harsher rhetoric.

Rubio echoed the Trump administration’s warnings that uncontrolled migration poses an existential threat to Western civilisation. The US National Security Strategy similarly questioned NATO’s long-term cohesion, suggesting that some member states could become “majority non-European” in coming decades.

The article shifts focus to Australia, questioning why it has not faced similar criticism from Washington. With 31.5% of its population foreign-born—far higher than Germany, France, Italy, or the EU average—and population growth driven almost entirely by immigration, Australia is statistically more likely than many NATO states to become “majority non-European.”

Possible explanations include Trump’s admiration for Australia’s merit-based immigration system and strict border controls, or the perception that Australia is not central to the “European” civilisation the administration claims to defend. Nonetheless, the author warns that immigration could still become a trigger for tensions in US–Australia relations, given the administration’s unpredictability and ideological rigidity, and argues that Australia should prepare for potential diplomatic strains similar to those experienced by European countries.
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