> We’re not interested in joining the EU.

The article isn't about joining the EU (as the original post you replied to called it, "unlikely anyway").

> But trade doesn’t need to go all the way to DC.

Nor Brussels; Perth to Greece via the Suez cuts the time, too.

> As for trade, the US is important but they’re not our most important trading partner.

OK, but the EU and US trade with Australia roughly equivalently per the numbers, and you said "Our major trading partners are nearby countries, like China, Japan, NZ, and the US. Not continental Europe." It's just a flatly false claim.