Does the Socialist Alliance think that Australia is at risk of becoming the 51st US state?
No. Australia is a powerful capitalist nation in its own right, particularly in the immediate South-East Asian and Pacific region. It has its own interests, which often run in the same direction as Britain and the US, but nevertheless we have our own ruling class who run Australia and want to continue to do so. Our capitalists want to be top dog in this region, but they also know that they can’t be top dog over all. The people who run this county have no intention of subsuming their interest into that of the US. So while there will continue to be US investment into the Australian economy, the largest destination for foreign investment by Australian bosses overseas is into the US. Australia is an imperialist country in its own right, able to deploy substantial military forces in its own right. From the point of view of people in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, it is Australia who casts the largest shadow. The problem is not that Australia is becoming the 51st state. The problem is that
