“If our European allies and our NATO partners are capable of achieving this, I believe our associates and allies in the Asia-Pacific region can follow suit,” she remarked to journalists during a press briefing today.

Albanese today said Australia would not be swayed further.

“We have lifted our spending,” he said.

“We are providing for our defence investment, including $57 billion of additional investment.

“I have said very clearly we will invest in the capability that Australia needs.”

Back in April of the previous year, Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles declared that the federal government plans to inject an additional $50.3 billion into defence spending through 2034.

The announcement took Australia’s defence spend from 2 per cent of GDP to 2.3 per cent.

While most NATO members did agree on Wednesday to raise their spending to 5 per cent of GDP, Spain broke ranks to reject the US request.

In a letter to NATO’s Secretary-General, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wrote that “committing to a 5 per cent target would not only be unreasonable, but also counterproductive”.

“It would move Spain away from optimal spending and it would hinder the (European Union’s) ongoing efforts to strengthen its security and defence ecosystem,” he wrote.

Australia may not have agreed to the 3.5 per cent benchmark, but it has made payments for US submarines under the $368 billion AUKUS pact.

The Pentagon confirmed the US was reviewing the trilateral agreement earlier this month, putting the future of the deal in question.