Australia doesn't usually need much encouragement to partner with the US in whatever righteous military conflict it deems just. We've done so in every major conflict since WWI.

Obviously some have been more justified than others.

But the idiosyncratic nuclear-armed regime of Kim Jong-un has just provided the most comprehensive justification possible for a US-led pre-emptive assault: a clearly stated threat of nuclear strike on Australia.

No government can ignore that. The question immediately becomes one of how best to forestall such a calamity. Until now, that's been a mix of diplomacy, sanctions, and implied consequences. But "strategic patience" has run its course.