Australia's foreign policy should serve Australians first. If cheaper fuel can ease pressure on families, ideology and overseas approval should not stand in the way.

Australia's foreign policy should be guided by a simple question, does this benefit Australia?

If something benefits Australia we should do it.

If something does not benefit Australia we should not do it.

And if something we were doing before no longer benefits Australia, we should stop doing it.

It's not difficult, we need to act in the national interest!

And yet watching how our government behaves, it's like I am trying to explain quantum physics to them.

As a nation, we should be particularly wary of entanglements that cost us billions, weaken our economy, and makes life harder for Australian families.

Especially when those entanglements are done in the pursuit of some grand moral gesture the only purpose of which is to make our political class feel better about itself.

Take Russia as a perfect example.

We're told that Russia must not be allowed a sphere of influence.

Yet the United States has a sphere of influence.

China has a sphere of influence.

Australia has interests in our own region, and we expect other powers to respect them.

But when it comes to Russia? Apparently the rules of international relations cease to apply.

Having a sphere of influence doesn't mean countries have a blank cheque to invade their neighbours.

But pretending that great powers don't have security interests, or that those interests can simply be wished away, isn't foreign policy. It's just fantasy.

Russia was assured that NATO would not move one inch further eastward, and yet NATO did move closer to their border.

Ask yourself this question, how would Australia react if China decided to set up their military right in Papua New Guinea? Or how would the Americans react if the Russians decided to put missiles in Cuba?

We don't have to approve of President Vladimir Putin to recognise that diplomacy requires understanding the other side's interests. Indeed, that's generally the point of diplomacy.

And we don't have to agree with Russia to trade with Russia where it serves our national interest.

Australia is not obliged to impoverish its own citizens to demonstrate its supposed moral superiority to the globalists.

6 months ago I asked Minister Wong whether Australia should consider importing Russian fuel if doing so was in our national interest and helped bring down costs for Australian families. Last week I asked her the same question again.

(President Trump says Russian diesel imports will lower fuel prices and ease cost of living pressures but I suspect that the deeper motive may be strategic, such as using energy trade as leverage and shifting from sanctions toward transactional diplomacy.)

Both times her response was to accuse me of supporting President Putin's regime.

If buying Russian fuel would benefit Australians, why would we refuse to do it?

President Trump understands this. He is putting America first.

He has done a deal with Russia to increase fuel supply because Americans are hurting and fuel prices matter.

Why can't Australia do the same?

Why are Australian families expected to pay more at the bowser? I'll tell you why, it's because our political class wants to impress globalists and take a supposedly moral stand over a conflict on the other side of the world that has nothing to do with us at the expense of ordinary Aussies.

Enough.

The job of the Australian government is not to win applause overseas. The job of the Australian government is to look after Australians here at home.

If Russia can sell us diesel and we can then bring down the costs for everyone in this country, we should do a deal. It really is that simple. Let's act in our own national interest for once.

Australian families are struggling, businesses are struggling, farmers, truck drivers and manufacturers are paying more and higher fuel costs flow through into the price of everything.

So cut the rubbish, stop putting foreign interests ahead of our own. Stop impoverishing Australians to satisfy globalists who do not care about us.

President Trump is putting America first. It is about time our government grew a spine, did a deal and put Australia first as well.

Senator Ralph Babet, Senator for Victoria, United Australia Party.

https://news.senatorbabet.com.au/p/its-time-to-put-australia-first