Australia has pledged to bolster ties with a post-Brexit Britain – including signing a free trade deal – but its new long-term foreign policy blueprint appeared to signal London’s “creeping irrelevance” to Canberra.

In a sign of Australia’s shifting priorities, a 136-page foreign policy white paper released by prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in Canberra included no special section on ties with Britain, which received just twelve mentions.

In contrast, the previous white paper in 2003 featured a two-page section highlighting the “alignment of our security interests and our shared values and history” and made 49 mentions of Britain.

James Curran, an expert on Australia’s foreign relations, said the latest white paper was “confirmation” of the rapidly diminishing importance of relations between the two nations. Until the early 1940s, Britain had effective control over Australia’s foreign policy.

“The lack of mentions of Britain in the white paper confirms the creeping irrelevance of Britain to Australia’s outlook – and Brexit confirms it,” Professor Curran, from Sydney University, told The Telegraph.