Archive Article: Signs Of Hope For Australia. 31 Jan 03.
December 27, 2008
Australia Day is a good opportunity to reflect on where Australia is heading. I spoke at an Australia Day ceremony at The Alan Walker Village and I identified three signs of hope for this country.
First, Australia in the past half-century or so has created a demographic miracle: the creation of one of the most cosmopolitan populations in the world. Australia and Canada are the two countries with the world’s most diverse populations.
Some politicians have complained about this diversity eroding Australia’s unique identity. But in fact the diversity can actually be a unique national characteristic in itself: Australia has brought together a wide range of people and they live in relative harmony. That makes Australia unique – just look at all the problems in other countries.
Australia has a very low level of politically motivated violence. Australians reserve their anger for referees on a Saturday.
When I travel overseas, people often tell how they marvel at Australia’s ability to get people to forget their own historical hatreds when they come to live in Australia. This helps explain Australia’s low profile in the foreign media: there are not enough stories of violence to report on.
A second sign of hope is the potential for Australia to become the breadbasket of China. There are many stories of rural hardship, and the drought is a major problem. But if Australia can get its agricultural act together, then it could have a fresh career in supplying food for China.
China has embarked upon the largest economic expansion in world history. Not even the British – who invented the Industrial Revolution around 1750 – were able to grow at the rate that China is now doing. But this is coming at a grave environmental cost. For example, some of China’s degraded top-soil now gets carried by the wind across the northern Pacific into Alaska, Canada and California.
China’s rapid economic growth therefore could be the basis of an Australian rural renaissance – providing Australia can make the appropriate agricultural reforms.
Finally over the years there have been various benchmarks developed to identify “successful” countries. Some of the most well known indicators include: an ability to feed the country’s population, large reserves of oil and other natural resources, an educated work force, stable government, and no predatory enemies over the border.
On this basis, Australia certainly does have the right sort of “indicators” to be a “successful” country.
In short, Australia has a lot more going for it than many Australians seem to realize. Indeed, the main source of negativity about Australia comes from Australians themselves. Foreigners have a much higher opinion of this country.
The Australian High Commission in London is said to receive more inquiries about migration than all the other high commissions and embassies in London combined. If the British want to leave their country, Australia remains their first country of choice.
To conclude, I was very happy to speak at the Australia Day ceremony. It was exactly the 30th anniversary – almost to the minute – since I first arrived here. Coming to Australia has been one of the best decisions of my life.
Broadcast Friday 31 January 2003 on Radio 2GB’s “Brian Wilshire Programme” at 9pm.