Australian independence at the Ausmin talks; Thatcherism and Reagonomics: lessons for economic recovery?

All way with DJT? This week Defence Minister Linda Reynolds and Foreign Minister Marise Payne flew to Washington to attend the annual Ausmin talks. The backdrop to this year’s talks is a series of escalating events and rhetoric on Hong Kong’s new national security laws, ownership of the South China Sea,  cyber-attacks and theft,  and the closure of consulates in the US and China.  But the deeper issue on the agenda was a choice. The US was hoping Australia would throw everything in with the US – and officially cast China as a strategic rival. Also, Thatcherism and Reagonomics: lessons for economic recovery? This week Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the kind of free-market policies associated with Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan could help Australia recover from the Covid recession.  Are tax cuts and deregulation the way forward?