Why does Australia still need Mommy and Daddy to protect her?

Why does Australia still need Mommy and Daddy to protect her?

Part 1. By Dr Mario Bonfante

Since the shock of “Brexit” (or a well-designed move) there has been much confusion in the minds of many, in particular mine!

I for one like living in a Democracy – if that’s what it still is?

I’m familiar with our history, our language, our education systems, our laws, our customs, our values, our beliefs, our humanitarian protections; in short – I’m too old to change – [But] change, We MUST! If we are to preserve our way-of-life and the Planet.

From the changing paradigms of gender / transgender equality, free speech, philanthropy and economic freedoms to climate change, animal rights and world health. We will have to embrace the new world faster than ever before in our human history.

In the past 50 years the world population has almost doubled, can we and the planet really afford to have it double again in the next 50 years? Can the planet sustain 16-20 Billion people by 2050-2070? I’ll leave you to ponder that one!

Why does Australia still need Mommy and Daddy to protect her?

Australia is one of the most unique of the British colonies in terms of economic trade and development. China has been and will remain the single most influencing factor attributing to Australia’s current and future economic development and trade growth into the 21st century and beyond. Like it or lump it - Australia must maintain its interdependence with its geographical neighbours’.

Historically, Australia was totally dependent on European and North American trade to survive and had no choice, if it wanted to adopt a big Australia philosophy. Long before Australia even had a heartbeat, the British use to send prisoners across the Atlantic Ocean to the United States (just a short trip for the British Fleet). However, Once the United States became more independent (approx. 180-200 years later) and populated, the British needed to find a new land to send their unwanted and dissonant Citizens … Hmmm, I wonder where that might be… Yes… Sydney Australia – Bit of a longer trip, but hey, what else were they going to do with all those ships and crims.

Some historians go as far as saying, “That if it was not for the colonisation of the USA, Australia may have never been born”.

Australia and the USA share a similar size - land mass, climate, and were reasonably close to other European colonies and both grew through immigration. However similar their origins, their respective growth is nowhere close to similar. why?

One of the main reasons is that USA has grown to over 300 million people and developed very sophisticated political, economic, and legal systems which made them the most powerful nation on the planet. Australia however struggled to grow and remained small and insignificant in terms of both Power and Influence. Do not get me wrong Australia is the best country in the world to live in; (in my opinion) it has one of the world highest happy rating, lowest poverty per capita and in the top 20 GDP rating.

Australia’s desolation is the single most contributing factor to its stagnation, 40% of its land mass is Desert Wilderness and as yet has not wanted to adopt from the UAE and how they turned this problem around creating Cities out of Deserts. However, the too little too late comment comes to mind; Australia has huge amounts of minerals, coal, iron, gold, diamonds, copper, uranium the list goes on and on, and vastly under exploited.

In present day Australia’s largest exports are mining minerals, agriculture (grain etc), wine, lumber, seafood, beef, wool, education, tourism and so on. Not surprising that China has now put unprecedented pressure on Australia within these export industries.

Education is also a standout, Australia is a temporary home to approx. 1 Million foreign students, approx. 300,000 of these students are from – you guessed it, CHINA! Making Education a huge revenue contributor to the Australian economy approx. $15 Billion per year this means that with an Australian population of only 25 million, 1 out of every 25 Australians is a” Foreign Student” and 1 out of every 6000 Chinese is an Australian Foreign Student? Likewise, tourism brings in huge injections from CHINA totalling Billions of Chinese dollars.

In the past Europe and North America exploited Australia’s resources via Direct Investment Relations and because Australia, Europe and North America were commercially familiar throughout their history and making Australia a well-developed and wealthy Country in its own right.

Today however, over 40% of Australia’s exports go to China totalling Billions of export dollars, in fact China buys more from Australia than from its 5 closest customers combined. Australia has enjoyed the economic benefits of this relationship, giving rise to Australia becoming a major power of its own within the Southeast Region and has gone some 29 years without a recession… if not for CHINA this would not be the case!

The current issue is one of “reliance” Australia has become too reliant on China and has put all it eggs into one basket. It sounds ludicrous to blindly exploit a relationship with another country with vastly different political systems, humanitarian standards etc without a contingency plan. Its too late now to tell Australian exporters to simply go find another market, yeah right and as if that is going to happen overnight!

Once we protect Australia and create a more level playing field (the power of one) we can then work our arses off with strategic diplomacy to repair our relationship with China. Respect for one another’s differences is the key “ firm but fair”

However, Australian exporters scramble to find new markets and need to drop prices to remain competitive and stay afloat… why? Australia already had a reasonable relationship with it’s Southeast Asian Neighbours However over the past 10 years this has been slowly eroded because of an insatiable hunger to become a bigger Australia… “Really”

Australia has become filled with Narcissistic Leaders continuously searching for ego supply on the world stage. This needs to Stop! What happened to knowing our place within the hierarchy?

Mommy, Daddy, Siblings and Children (the colonies) will always be there [BUT] we need friends close-by to play with and to support our geographical community. We used to be so good at this? We were respectful but firm, we were honest and fair, we were growing slowly and most of all WE WERE LIKED!

By Dr Mario Bonfante - September 2021