The United States is contributing to the disrupted global political environment, and one year on from Donald Trump’s election to the White House, America’s direction and its impact on the world is not much clearer, according to Australia’s shadow foreign minister, Penny Wong.

In a major speech characterising Australia’s relationship with the US, delivered as the Turnbull government is set to release the first new foreign policy white paper in more than a decade, Wong emphasised that the relationship was “deep, long-standing and institutional” and not a function of “the personalities of our respective leaders”.

But while emphasising the continuity of the post-war alliance, Wong said: “A year on from President Trump’s election, what kind of world is emerging and what kind of country America is becoming has not become much clearer, and how we might transcend personality politics in both the US and Australia has not become any easier.”

Wong said Labor’s view was Australia had to “work with the US as it is now, not as it might once have been, or as some of its naysayers claim it’s going to become”.

“The US is one of the most vibrant societies on Earth, as energetic and full of potential as it has ever been. It is constantly transforming itself as it capitalises on its enormous human, social and physical capital resources,” she said.

Wong noted Washington had “a lot on its plate at present”, dealing with domestic economic, political and social stresses and substantial fiscal challenges.

“The place the US has and seeks to project in the world, as well as its approach to its alliance relationships, have been the subject of political debate and varying degrees of political rhetoric,” Wong said.

She noted the US was also “dealing with the allegations of foreign interference in the inner workings of its own democracy” a challenge that was both subversive and infectious. “Australia, along with our fellow democracies, needs to work with the US to bolster and strengthen democracies everywhere.”

She said working with the US as it is “demands clarity, consistency and persistence across the entire gamut of our bilateral relationships”.

“Engagement at the head-of-government level remains important, as does engagement between our national institutions, corporations, public and private sector decision makers and, very importantly, our thinktanks.”

Emphasising a theme she has pursued since taking the shadow foreign affairs portfolio, Wong said Australia and the US had abiding shared values and interests, but Australia needed to have agency within the relationship, and “pursue our own goals for our own purposes”.

The Turnbull government will on Thursday release a new foreign policy white paper, the first recalibration of Australia’s foreign policy in more than a decade.

Ahead of the release of the document, there has been a spirited debate in foreign policy circles and among former politicians about how the current government should draw our major international relationships.

Two former prime ministers, Paul Keating and John Howard, have expressed divergent views about Australia’s relationship with Washington in the age of Trump.

Keating has urged Australia to step back from the alliance and “make our way in Asia ourselves, with an independent foreign policy”.

Howard has said he doesn’t see the core elements of the alliance, the Anzus treaty and the five-eyes intelligence-sharing arrangements, being “disturbed” by Trump’s presidency.

Wong’s speech on Wednesday evening referenced China’s rise as a second significant disruption in global foreign policy relationships.

“China’s newfound economic strength and assertiveness have also contributed to the age of disruption,” Wong said.

“As we have seen with China’s extraordinary rise, economic power can now have a strategic effect independent of military power. What remains uncertain is the consequence of China’s military strength growing to match its economic strength as its strategic ambitions are realised over the coming decades.

“This double-whammy form of disruption – the separation of economic and military power and then its recombination – will largely define the region in which Australia and the US have strategic interests for the rest of this century.”