Other than the ABC's constant Acknowledgement of Country which keeps coming up with place names and names of "nations" I and - dare I say it? - none of my Aboriginal friends never knew existed, they do come up with some interesting and insightful programmes.
I've just spent the last afternoon of the last day of the year listening to Australia's $668 BILLION AUKUS program. And so can you by clicking on:
| 1 - That Fella Down Under |
Methinks, we are being royally ripped off by both the UK and the US. Apart from that, by the time we ever get those "invisible" subs, there's probably technology around for our adversaries to scan the ocean floor. (Listen to Malcolm Turnbull on "4 - The 51st US state?" and Gareth Evans on "5 - Radioactive ripples". They both make an awful lot of sense!) I leave these slightly outdated last words to former PM Paul Keating:
Anyway, who can believe that three submarines - of which perhaps only one is ever operational - could defend Australia? We are a prize target for the Chinese who look down at us and can't believe their luck to have on their doorstep a whole continent, sparsely populated and possessing all the minerals they need, which is literally indefensible - not counting our NRL diplomacy in PNG, of course. Even if we could defend ourselves, we could never pay for all those PTSD-cases once the fighting is over.
I won't be walking into the disaster with my eyes wide shut: long before our rich Chinese friend's upmarket resort in Far North Queensland has been turned into an R&R Centre for officers of the PLA, I will have the sign on our gate changed to read 河湾 . And 谢谢 for reading this!
P.S. Read "The Echidna Strategy - Australia's Search for Power and Peace"
