When the US defence secretary announced on Wednesday (US time) that a US fast-attack submarine had sunk an Iranian ship off the coast of Sri Lanka, it immediately raised questions about Australian involvement, because of the Aukus nuclear-powered submarine deal.

According to Australia’s defence department, “one in 10” of the crew members on US-flagged Virginia class submarines are Australian, embedded as part of the Aukus training program. So was the submarine that sunk the Iranian ship a Virginia class? Were Australian crew onboard?

On Thursday, the Australian government refused to be drawn. “US submarine operations,” said the Australian foreign minister, Penny Wong, “are a matter for the United States”. The government line was that “for operational and security reasons we do not disclose specific information regarding personnel”.

Until they do. On Thursday night, reports emerged that there were indeed two Australian crew on board. By Friday morning, the Australian prime minister confirmed that there were in fact three Australian crew serving on the submarine.

What was so secret on Thursday that was not secret enough on Friday for the prime minister to continue to keep it secret? Did the government not know if there were Australians aboard before then? Or did they just refuse to disclose that to parliament and the Australian people?

Which is worse? And did Wong mislead parliament?

The prime minister insisted “that no Australian personnel have participated in any offensive action against Iran”. So are we to believe that they just … watched?

They watched their American co-crew members torpedo a ship, killing more than 80 people, and watched them as they left the rest to drown?

Is leaving people to drown, as the prime minister said, acting “in accordance with Australian law, with Australian policy”? It’s not what compliance with the Safety Of Life At Sea (SOLAS) convention – a fundamental rule of international maritime practice, even in wartime, to which Australia is a party – means.

Australian service people have long been embedded with our allies. We do that on the assumption that those allies abide by the rules we have set together.

The Trump administration has said explicitly that they aren’t and they won’t.

It may be technically true that embedded Australian crew, acting under US command, cannot be said to be participating in a war on behalf of Australia. But materially, there is no difference.

We certainly cannot be so naive as to expect that the difference will matter to an Iranian regime already diversifying the targets of its attacks.

The Aukus submarine pact has dragged Australia into the Trump administration’s illegal war on Iran in all but name. This was all entirely forseeable.

The Australian people could already see the risks. Irrespective of their government’s obfuscations and denials, Australians are rapidly losing faith in the United States. Poll after poll indicates a growing wariness amongst Australians over what the Trump administration is doing in the world; Australians have even stopped travelling there.

The Australian people have stuck by the principles that saw them elect a Labor government in a landslide less than a year ago. On election night last year, Albanese said “in this time of global uncertainty, Australians have chosen optimism and determination”.

“Australians,” he continued, “have chosen to face global challenges, the Australian way – looking after each other, while building for the future.”

The prime minister was implying that his re-election was at least in part a repudiation of Trumpism.

At every step since, the Australian government has failed to carry that forward. By standing by as the United States and Israel have destroyed the foundations of the international order, it has made Australia complicit in their collapse.

The Trump administration could not have made its total disregard for human life any clearer – both at home and abroad. Asked this week about whether Americans should worry about reprisal attacks as a result of its illegal war on Iran, Trump replied, “I guess”.

And continued: “Like I said, some people will die.”

His secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, has said that they fight this war “without mercy”, unbound by “stupid rules of engagement”.

Those stupid rules, as imperfect as they might have been, kept the world safer. They were underpinned by the principle that every human being has worth, by virtue of their humanity.

Australia, in the person of Dr HV Evatt, played a central role in the construction of those rules – motivated by, as the current prime minister put it, the idea that “looking after each other” matters.

It’s hard to believe that Evatt and Albanese belong to the same party.

The Australian government has instead been preoccupied with looking after Trump. It has been desperately trying to placate him in order to secure the Aukus deal.

And now we are seeing the results.