"The sheer complexity of this age is uncharted territory for Australia." opposition foreign spokesman Ted O'Brien told the National Press Club on Wednesday.
But global events unfolding simultaneously, without warning and with no pattern were not about to radically change Australia's diplomatic status quo.
"The notion that Australia must choose between the US and China is offensive. It implies a weakness in our national character," he said.
"The United States is our primary ally, and China our key trading partner. That won't change."
It was Mr O'Brien's first address at the National Press Club since being named opposition foreign affairs spokesman in Angus Taylor's reshuffled shadow cabinet in February.
He used the occasion to voice fears Australia's influence on the world stage had diminished, citing falling living standards, red tape, frail fuel security, and an "obsession" with net zero.
"Our nation seems to have lost its mojo," he said.
He argued lifting Australia's ban on nuclear power and looking for more uranium and gas would help maximise competitive advantage in a world where energy is currency.
It was a throwback to the coalition's 2025 election campaign, which snagged partly on a proposal Mr O'Brien championed to build seven nuclear power stations.
He said climate change, which many Pacific Island nations consider their gravest existential threat, was barely mentioned on a recent official visit to Papua New Guinea and Fiji, with net zero nowhere to be heard.
Mr O'Brien also flagged the coalition would work with Pacific nations on a regional security agreement, "if this is something they wish to co-design."
It was an idea proposal by Solomon Islands president Matthew Wale on his visit to Canberra in May, when he and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese agreed to kick off negotiations on a new bilateral security treaty.
Mr O'Brien also became the latest coalition frontbencher to weigh in on support for multiculturalism, one week after Pauline Hanson argued Australia should become a "monoculture" from behind the same podium.
"If we gave everyone in this room a blank sheet of paper and said define monoculturalism, and then said define multiculturalism ... I don't think we would have a common view", he said.
"Who's in the mono? I don't know. Are you in the mono? I don't know if I'm in the mono. Who decides who's in the mono?"
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