The Brief: By and large, the Australian-U.S. alliance is considered by the majority of people on both sides of the Pacific Pond to be mutually beneficial, indeed essential. But behind this pact, like as with so many countries with economic, strategic and/or military ties to the empire du jour, there is a downside, one rarely acknowledged — and when it is, often rejected — in public or media discourse. More Australians though are beginning to question its value, a mindset reinforced in no small measure by the increasingly heavy-handed influence the U.S. seeks to exert in global affairs, exemplified as much by its well-documented interference in the affairs of other countries and its propensity for imposing its frequently self-serving economic and strategic agenda on the international community. Along with examining why Australia might benefit from re-assessing the oft-presumed benefits of this partnership, and from there, seeking a more independent pathway, we will also reveal some of the past history of this complex, and for the U.S. in the ongoing pursuit of its hegemonic ambition, sure to be an increasingly vital, geopolitical partnership.