Australia's former defence minister Andrew Hastie made a striking comparison on June 15, 2026: he said the global race to develop artificial intelligence is like the Cold War nuclear arms competition. His point was simple — countries need to build their own AI capability rather than rely on other nations to provide it.

Hastie was speaking at an event about national security and resilience. He argued that Australia depends too much on the United States for AI technology, and that dependence creates a risk. Think of it this way: if your country relies entirely on another nation for something essential, you lose control over what happens when that relationship changes.

This concern is not new. The Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering recently published a report saying the government needs to invest in AI infrastructure — the data centres, computer systems, and AI models that make AI work. Without that investment, Australia stays dependent on foreign companies and foreign decisions about how technology is governed.

The worry is straightforward. If Australia does not own and operate AI infrastructure — the computer systems that run AI, the data it uses, and the AI software itself — it cannot guarantee those systems will be available if relationships with supplier countries break down. The US and Australia have a strong alliance, but countries cannot count on alliances staying exactly the same forever.

There is a catch with Hastie's nuclear comparison. When countries had nuclear weapons, it was clear: you either had them or you did not. With AI, it is more complicated. Australia cannot realistically build all the AI infrastructure it needs at home — that would cost too much. So the real question is: which parts of AI infrastructure matter most to own locally?

Right now, Australia invests less in government-directed AI development than other wealthy countries do. That gap is what the engineering academy's report highlights. By framing this as a security issue rather than just an economic one, Hastie is trying to make the case stronger. Governments find it easier to spend money on defence and security than on general economic growth.

Hastie's warning also points to something history has shown: once one country falls behind in a technology race, it is hard to catch up. If Australia waits too long to build its own AI capability, it may end up permanently dependent on others.

The bigger question is whether Australia will actually fund these ideas. Policymakers in Australia have been talking about AI independence for years, but that has not yet turned into serious government spending. Hastie's speech raises the issue's profile, but talking about something and paying for it are different things.