Australia's relationship with the US will remain strong: Bleich Outgoing US Ambassador Jeffrey Bleich at the US Embassy in Yarralumla. Photo: Rohan Thomson Australia's relationship with the United States is expected to remain strong, despite a change in government, US Ambassador Jeffrey Bleich says. In his last one-on-one interview before departing his post, Ambassador Bleich told Fairfax Media it made little difference made to the two countries" alliance if the country was headed by a Liberal or Conservative Prime Minister. "We tend to agree across the aisle and, in fact, I haven't really seen any daylight between Liberal and Labor Governments," he said. Ambassador Bleich contacted both Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott and former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd following the latter's concession on Saturday, to congratulate and commiserate ahead of confidential briefings later this week. The discussions came ahead of the Ambassador's address to the National Press Club on Wednesday, where he will speak on the "bigger, stronger, better" alliance between the two countries. "The time I arrived, people were talking about whether or not the alliance could hold, given that the US was in a recession and that we were engaged in very challenging conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq," he said. "There was a sense of "would the US have the bandwidth to really play its traditional role, in this alliance and in this region." I look at where we are today, with a redoubled investment in the alliance and also both our countries have come through those challenges. However the United States is now facing a new challenge in its response to the crisis in Syria, as President Barack Obama continues to lobby for congressional support for action. Ambassador Bleich said a military strike against Syria would be justified, but international action would determine whether it was required. "We want to act through diplomatic channels, if at all possible," he said. But if the only option available is a military strike, then that's certainly permitted under law and appropriate to enforce international norms. Ambassador Bleich said congressional support for action was also likely, though it was still unclear what that action would be. "I think the Congress will support action to stop the use of chemical weapons," he said. But how that will be done will ultimately be resolved over the course of several days while these issues are worked through on a diplomatic level. His comments came just hours before Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem indicated his country was ready to give other countries and the UN access to its arsenal. "We are ready to state where the chemical weapons are, to halt production of chemical weapons and show these installations to representatives of Russia, other countries and the UN," Muallem said in a statement sent to Russia's Interfax news agency. We want to join the chemical weapons ban treaty. We will respect our commitments in relation to the treaty, including providing information on these weapons. The statement follows Russia's surprise proposal on Monday to secure Syria's chemical weapons stockpile, prompted by an apparently off-hand remark US Secretary of State John Kerry. Mr Kerry is expected to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva on Thursday.