Australia's Identity Crisis: A Foretaste of What's to Come?

Australia's Identity Crisis: A Foretaste of What's to Come?

Australia's new Labor government is committed to greater ties with Asia, while increased immigration from the Asian continent is rapidly changing demographics in the country. What do these trends mean for Australia's future and the future of the West?

by Melvin Rhodes

It was the Australians who first realized the enormity of the geopolitical seismic shift.

Less than three weeks after the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Australia's Prime Minister John Curtin proclaimed, "Without any inhibitions of any kind I make it quite clear that Australia looks to America, free of any pangs as to our traditional links or kinship with the United Kingdom."

After more than 150 years of being closely associated with the British Empire, the world's primary superpower prior to the two world wars, Australians realized that the Empire could no longer defend them and that a closer relationship with the United States was called for. The Japanese were advancing quickly down through Southeast Asia and posed a major threat to Australia. In the immediate years ahead Australia, together with the United States and Britain, would be fighting for survival against the Axis powers. In late 1941 the end result was far from a foregone conclusion.

Following World War II, Australia remained a committed and loyal friend of the United States, sending troops to Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan to fight alongside Americans.

But today Australians sense another seismic shift in the global power structure. Just as Britain was economically drained at the end of two world wars, so is the United States from fighting a long and expensive war on terror centered on Iraq and Afghanistan. American power in the Pacific is diminished and its future looks decidedly uncertain. A harbinger of the military change has been the massive shift in global trade and finance that has already impacted Australia greatly.

Until the 1960s Australia was tied into the British Empire's trading system, which gave imperial preferences to the former dominions of the empire—Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa. Their agricultural and commodity exports entered the big British market free of import duties. These countries had their currencies tied to the British pound in what was called the sterling area. They also cooperated on defense matters.

Together with Britain itself, they made up the prophesied "company of nations" or "multitude of nations" descended from the biblical patriarch Joseph (Genesis 35:11; 48:19). They preceded the United States as the world's preeminent power (verse 20).

In 1971 Britain's parliament voted to turn her back on these nations by joining what is now the European Union. The four nations suddenly had to look elsewhere for customers to buy their goods.

I was reminded of all this in Perth, Western Australia, while watching a demonstration of sheep shearing. The shearer was telling us that all the wool they were shearing was destined for China. Fifty years ago it would have been Britain.

While on this recent visit to Australia, I read that China bought a majority stake in a major mine operating in Western Australia. Increasing investment from Asia and trade with the continent are leading Australia inexorably toward closer ties with the world's biggest continent. Asian immigrants make up well over half of the people currently moving into Australia, which is leading to profound demographic changes.

Yet Australia remains a Western country in an Asian sea. It is not Asian—not yet anyway.

A significant change of direction ahead

The new Labor government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is set on increasing Asian ties. The prime minister, who is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, sees Australia's future as lying with Asia . By encouraging Asian investment and immigration, Australia will inevitably become more Asian.

In his second administration he promises to sever the last remaining formal link with the United Kingdom , the direct tie with the crown. Queen Elizabeth II has been queen of Australia for more than half the nation's history as an independent country. Under a second Rudd government, she would be replaced by a figurehead president. (Australia would still retain the parliamentary system.)

To many people, this may seem a minor change of no real significance. How could an elderly lady who lives 11,000 miles away from Australia possibly be of any importance to the country? Besides, increasing ties with Asia is what matters now, as economic ties to the north are the primary business focus.

During my visit to Australia, a friend took me to the Australian capital city of Canberra. It was my second time there.

On my first visit I had gone to see the War Memorial and Museum, prompting a Good News article on Australia's great military role as a major contributor to the wars that both Britain and the United States had fought. Both nations should be truly thankful for the help they have repeatedly received from their ally "down under." Even today, Australia remains America's policeman in the South Pacific, taking care of Western interests over a vast area. This is quite an accomplishment for a nation of only 20 million people.

On my second visit to Canberra, I chose to visit both the Old and the New Parliament House. The Old Parliament building was opened in 1927 by the queen's father; the New was opened by her in 1988. It's often forgotten that Australia is quite a new country. The present Commonwealth of Australia was established a little more than a century ago, in January 1901, when six colonies united to form a new federation, the second dominion of the British Empire.

At the time, Australians chose to take what they considered the best from both the British and the American systems of government, with an elected Senate (unlike the United Kingdom or Canada), and complete religious freedom with separation of church and state, while maintaining loyalty to the crown as a counterbalance to political power and a more effective guarantor of political stability and national unity.

In a parliamentary democracy, the prime minister can do just about anything he wants if he has the backing of the majority of members of parliament. Only the crown effectively limits his power by removing the possibility of a dictatorship. The system evolved in Britain during the upheavals of the 17th century. It has worked well for many nations, giving them unparalleled periods of political stability.

Our guide explained how intricately woven the three branches of government are—the House of Representatives, the Senate and the crown. As he explained the political system I considered how any change to the constitution will be problematic.

Prior to our visit, my friend, who has supported the idea of an Australian republic since Britain turned her back on the country 37 years ago, summed up Australia's dilemma: "We've already got the best system of government in the world; somehow we republicans have got to come up with something even better."

The pro-republic British magazine The Economist put it well a few years ago when it warned that such a change would inevitably lead to 10 years of political instability as the ripple effects worked their way through the Australian constitution.

Such a change would be no easier than if America went about switching to a parliamentary system, a change I heard advocated recently by Mortimer Zuckerman, publisher of U.S. News and World Report.

But such a change in Australia still seems likely due to the growing ties with Asia, resentment against Britain and changing demographics.

When Elizabeth II became queen of Australia in 1952, the country had a population of about 8 million, most of whom were descendants of British and Irish settlers. The population has increased since then by more than 150 percent. Most of that increase initially came from Europe (including the British Isles), but since the "White Australia" policy was ended by the government of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam in 1972, growth has come from Asia and the Middle East. More recently, large numbers have been admitted from Africa.

Many of these new immigrants do not identify with the West in general, let alone with Australia's historic partners, the United Kingdom and the United States. Many would also be unaware of how Australia's system of government has given the nation unprecedented stability, which their own homelands have lacked.

The constitution continues to work well. Many ask, "If it ain't broke, why fix it?" The desire to change it is driven by emotion, including anger at Britain over abandoning Australia and also bitterness in the Labor Party over the dismissal of the Whitlam government in 1975 by the queen's representative in Australia, the governor-general.

A question of identity

During my visit to Australia, I was struck by the contrast in attitudes between Australia and Canada, one of the other former British dominions.

During the queen's last visit to the country more than two years ago, an opinion poll in Canada showed support for the monarchy as high as 92 percent (outside of French-speaking Quebec). Loyalty to the crown was the primary reason for Canada existing in the first place. Loyalists who did not want to remain in the United States after it broke away from Britain moved to Canada and later formed the first independent dominion. Living next door to the American giant, Canadians no doubt still value their separate identity, which embraces the crown.

At first it would seem that Australians need to similarly preserve their identity in the face of Asian encroachment. However, unlike Canadians, Australians inhabit an island/continent. Psychologically perhaps, they do not feel their identity is quite as threatened. But it is inconceivable that their national identity will not change significantly as they become more Asian.

No doubt aware of this, the Catholic archbishop of Sydney, George Pell, during the July visit of Pope Benedict XVI, called on Australians to "populate or perish." "No Western country is producing enough babies to keep the population stable, no Western country," he said (Sydney Morning Herald, July 15, 2008).

Ironically, Roman Catholics now have far greater power and influence in Australia than at any time in the past. In the 1947 census Anglicans numbered 3 million, with Roman Catholics just over half that. An additional 2 million identified themselves as Protestants of other denominations, giving Protestants a considerable lead over Roman Catholics.

Today those figures are different, likely to be further exacerbated following an expected split in the Anglican Church over the acceptance of gay priests. The Roman Catholic Church is now the biggest single denomination in Australia, with 26 percent of the population claiming membership.

The change in spiritual demographics is a contributory factor to the pro-republic movement, as many Catholics are of Irish descent. There is also resentment over the fact that the monarch must be a Protestant. Pope Benedict's reception was reminiscent of the queen's reception in 1954, reflecting the demographic change that has taken place in the intervening years.

Demographics changing the face of Western nations

Similar demographic changes are now taking place in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and New Zealand. The once dominant Protestant majority of each country is fast becoming a minority, with the Church of Rome increasing in adherents partly through members having a higher birthrate.

At the same time, all these countries are going through major ethnic changes with increased immigration from the third world. Prior to changes in immigration law in 1965, almost 90 percent of the U.S. population was of European descent. Today that figure is down to less than two thirds and is still dropping.

News reports recently noted that the U.S. population has passed 300 million, more than a third of which are minorities. Demographic projections now indicate that the majority will become the minority by 2042. This will surely have a significant impact on the country and its foreign policy. As the majority whites become a minority in each of the nations descended from Joseph, the bonds between these countries will inevitably lessen.

Internally there will be greater discord. Recently, CNN International broadcast highlights of the Democratic party convention around the world with a banner headline that read: "Most diverse Democratic convention ever." Another subheading followed on the screen: "Diversity can lead to tension."

Ironically, as this particular news item was being covered, Senator Edward Kennedy was on stage. Kennedy was behind the 1965 change in immigration law that has led to profound demographic changes. At the time he said that Americans would not be inundated with immigrants or notice any difference in the composition of the country's population.

These changes may seem unimportant. But consider that religious freedom came about first in the English-speaking countries through the Protestant Reformation and the proliferation of Protestant sects. Not until the primacy of the English-speaking nations was secured in the middle of the 18th century was religious freedom itself secure.

And as touched on earlier, Australians and Canadians, together with their cousins in Britain and New Zealand, have a deeper identity that is totally hidden from most people. That is their biblical identity as descendants of Ephraim, one of the two children of the patriarch Joseph.

Joseph's father Jacob (or Israel) gave his grandsons a pronounced blessing, foretelling that Ephraim would be a great "multitude of nations" and Manasseh his brother a great nation (Genesis 48:19). To fulfill this prophecy, Manasseh's descendants had to break away from the British Empire (from which would spring the "multitude of nations"), subsequently forming the United States of America (the "great" nation).

The other nations remained united by a common loyalty to the crown. You can read more about this in our free booklet The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy. Severing the tie with the crown is a symbolic act showing Ephraim losing its domination of Australia.

Two power blocs foretold

The rising influence in Australia of the Catholic Church and that of Asia may seem mutually exclusive, but they really aren't.

The Bible shows that in the years prior to the second coming of the Messiah and the establishment of the Kingdom of God we will see the development of two dominant power blocs on the world stage, one centered in Europe and one on the Asian continent. The revived Roman Empire in Europe will initially involve the Roman church and is also prophesied to be a great universal commercial empire. You can read about this in chapters 17 and 18 of the book of Revelation.

In turn, this empire will clash with an army of 200 million that comes from the east, likely comprising military forces from a number of different Asian countries working together. You can read about this in Revelation 9:13-16.

Australia could be affected by both of these new superpowers.

It's been more than two centuries since the first British settlement was established in Australia and more than one century since the six Australian colonies united to form the present Commonwealth of Australia. During this time they have enjoyed one of the longest periods of political stability of any nation on earth. Now it seems the course of the nation is about to be fundamentally altered, giving birth to a new republic no longer bound to the country's historical ties to Britain and the United States, but instead looking outward into an uncertain future.
GN

Related Resources
The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy The world has never seen an empire as far-reaching and dominant as the British Empire. Nor has it seen a single nation as powerful as the United States. What's the story behind these two powers that have dominated the world for the last two centuries? Was their astounding rise and fall foretold in Bible prophecy?
Australia: A Nation Changes DirectionThe winds of change are blowing strong in Australia. Once a bastion of the British Empire, Australia is shifting its focus away from Europe and America.
Australia: An Underappreciated NationWorld War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm and Iraq. Only one nation has fought in all these wars from beginning to end—Australia.