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Australia could be the long-term winner worldwide

By Peter Bowden - posted Wednesday, 24 November 2021


By the end of this century, or even earlier, Australia could be the outstanding country in the world – the most prosperous, with a way of life envied by all, setting a moral and economic standard that the world would be attempting to emulate. Why? We have access to unlimited renewable energy, vast natural resources, a stable socio-economic environment, and educated people. We are also the most multicultural nation on earth, the way of the future. All are ingredients for long-term success.

Mike Cannon Brooks CEO of Atlassian, a software company, and adjunct professor at the University of New South Wales, says:

We could power the entire world five times over from the Australian sun… It's a good measure of how large our country is, and how much great sun we have. We have a country almost designed to benefit most from the renewable boom. And we have 3 billion consumers nearby who can take our sunlight when we ship it up to Asia. We absolutely can be a renewable energy superpower. It's not just the sun and the wind, it's our great engineering force, great tradies, great financial resources, all the things we need.

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So the future looks great for our country. Economically and socially.

Australia has recently reflected its widespread endorsement of multicultural and moral thinking in that 62% of the population recently voted to approve same-sex marriage.

Top of the list is our first Australians. They have given us many lessons, but we must do more for them. There is overwhelming evidence from Aboriginal oral history, as well as from anthropology and written history, that Aboriginal adults traditionally saw the world in highly egalitarian terms compared to their European contemporaries. One Victorian clergyman lamented in 1888 that 'in fact, it is difficult to get into a blackfellow's head that one man is higher than another. But the first Australians have problems. We, and they, must change that.

Second is Australia's egalitarianism. Its proven ability to link the world's different nationalities together peacefully: Australia is the most multicultural country in the world. The statistics are amazing. The Australian Bureau of Statistics tells us that one in every five households speaks a language other than English at home. 26% of the population were born overseas and a further 20% had at least one parent born overseas. That is half the country! This multiculturism is reflected in many ways, not least of which is its Special Broadcasting Service which broadcasts on TV and radio in 74 languages, just about every major language in the world.

The result is that Australians have not divided into the warring tribes that we see in other major countries- particularly the pro or anti- Trump United States, England with Brexit and Boris Johnson, or France with their Yellow Vests.

But there are at least two changes we need to make before becoming the world's leading nation:

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Top of the list is our fractious political parties. We have a political system that does not serve the country well. Currently in government is a coalition of two conservative parties, held in bondage by one side of the coalition - The National Party of Australia a bunch of self-serving rural troglodytes.

The Nationals agreed to meet the county's recent global warming target at Glasgow in return for an extra cabinet spot for the party, a commitment not to increase Australia's 2030 emissions reduction target, as well as a $3 billion rail line through coal country from Toowoomba to Gladstone. Plus more investment in the Regional Investment Corporation, which offers low-interest loans to farmers.

The dominant side of the coalition, the misnamed Liberal party, also needs to rid itself of its own conservative members, unwilling to bring new thinking into our government. And then there is our Prime Minister "Do you think he lied to you?" asked Bevan Shields of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age of the French Premier Emmanuel Macron at the Glasgow COP 26 conference in November 2021. "I don't think, I know," said Macron. Malcolm Turnbull said the same of Morrison to reporters "He's lied to me on many occasions,"

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About the Author

Peter Bowden is an author, researcher and ethicist. He was formerly Coordinator of the MBA Program at Monash University and Professor of Administrative Studies at Manchester University. He is currently a member of the Australian Business Ethics Network , working on business, institutional, and personal ethics.

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