British Prime Minister Theresa May raised the issue with Mr Morrison on the weekend at the G20 summit in Argentina but it did not come up in discussions with US President Donald Trump, who moved America's embassy to Jerusalem earlier this year. In a major speech in Sydney on Sunday, Mr Evans said Mr Turnbull and former foreign minister Julie Bishop had done "some" positive things in office but claimed the Coalition's overall international record was not strong. "One of the many unhappy realities about life under the present Coalition government is that when it comes to Australia’s place in the world, protecting and advancing our national interests in the international arena, we have been punching way below our weight," he said. "It’s time for Australia to punch not above our weight, but at the very considerable weight we already have." The Coalition has resisted pressure to join China's massive Belt and Road initiative, which will create new roads, railways, ports and maritime routes in new and revived trade corridors stretching from Asia to Europe.

In a message to Labor's frontbench, Mr Evans argued a stronger relationship with China did not mean Australia had to be Beijing's "patsy". "But it does mean recognising the legitimacy of many of China’s own security and economic national interest claims, including the essential legitimacy of the scale and ambition of the Belt and Road Initiative: with us being a little less anxious about its regional security implications, and being prepared – with appropriate commercial caution – to be an active participant in the enterprise." Former foreign minister Gareth Evans. Credit:Stefan Postles Mr Evans also used his speech at the Tom Uren Memorial Lecture to say Australia should focus its efforts in South East Asia on Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia. "Which means, among other things, that just about the last thing we should be doing is putting any of those relationships at risk by the kind of unbelievable folly involved in Morrison’s Jerusalem embassy thought bubble."

Mr Evans did not call for Australia to walk away from the ANZUS military alliance but said an end to loyally following the United States was long overdue. "The bottom line is that neither we nor anyone else in the region should be under any illusion that, for all the insurance we might think we have bought with our past support, the US will be there for us militarily in any circumstance where it does not also see its own immediate interests being under some threat. Loading "While that was almost certainly also the reality under previous administrations, it has been thrown into much starker relief by Trump’s ‘America First’ approach, and it should not be assumed that anything would be very different in a post-Trump era." Mr Evans, the Australian National University chancellor, conceded less reliance on America would put pressure on Australia's defence budget.