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.
