US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has “emphasized the need for capable allies to contribute to the collective defense” in a meeting overnight marking the 75th anniversary of Canberra’s military alliance with Washington.

The Trump administration has long-called on Australia to hike defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP after years of hovering at around 2 per cent.

The Albanese government has managed to abate that demand, with Defence Minister Richard Marles spearheading efforts to push the military budget up to 3 per cent of GDP by 2033.

However, an American readout of Mr Marles’ meeting with his counterpart, which also stressed the need for allies to “invest in their own sovereign security”, showed it remained an issue for the US.

Fronting media on Thursday morning, Mr Marles said Australia had “a good story to tell in respect of our defence spending”, saying the defence budget now sat at 2.8 per cent of GDP.

“The combined increases in defence spending, which represents an increase of $117bn over the … decade, represents the biggest peace time increase in defence spending in our country’s history,” he told the ABC.

“And all of that puts us on this day ahead of most countries in NATO – Germany, France, Spain, Britain, Italy.

“It puts us ahead of almost every country in the Indo-Pacific.

“So we are really clearly a country which is pulling its weight.”

According to the readout, Mr Hegseth “noted the alignment between US and Australian National Defense Strategies and also acknowledged that Canberra recognizes the gravity of maintaining a favorable balance of power in the region to ensure that both countries remain safe and prosperous”.

It also said the defence chiefs “agreed to accelerate force posture initiatives at Australian bases, bolster cooperation in combined logistics, and build greater interoperability through joint exercises”.

The stronger commitment from the US came after it massively scaled back defence commitments to South Korea because of President Trump’s “very good relationship” with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.

Mr Marles stopped short of criticising the move at the time, but said Australia remained “very concerned” about North Korea.