I’m guessing that Rudd thinks that Australia might not be able to depend on the U.S. in the near future. A combination of a doofus, at best, for a president and national poverty.
I suspect that Australians are anticipating having to take up some slack in Asia and maybe elsewhere as the US abandons its role as policeman and its own self-defense, perhaps worse as the US actually reverses direction in places like Palestine.
Note to self: put Australia near the top of my list of “potential places-to-live-if-America-doesn’t-wake-up-by-November-2010-elections”.