Defending the indefensible

has to be done but perhaps not in the way many people believe. 

There are currently all sorts of stories in the media about the way AUKUS will fall apart and the nuclear submarines will go with it. True? Not true? 

I do not have the capacity to see accurately into the future. I can make some guesses about what "might" happen and that is all. 

There are things I know and many more I do not know. One of the things I do know is that it would be physically impossible to defend this country.  It is the world's largest island or the world's smallest continent. Take your pick.  It has a massive coastline and, while most of us live on the coast, there is enough of it that boatloads of "desperate" people do sometimes manage to get past maritime patrols. That alone should be enough to tell us two things. People want to come here because they see it as "safety" and we cannot control the borders as easily as all that. 

All countries have border controls. Border controls have been around since before the early Roman empire. Travel documents became common under Henry V in the 14thC but it was not until the 1800's that something like the modern day passport issued by the government became common. There was no need for these things. Most people did not travel that far. It might even be said most people did not travel at all. They stayed within, at most, a day's journey of their homes. 

I can almost see this happening again. Travel might not become easier at all. It might become more difficult. We might need to be able to show good reasons for travelling. In that way future governments might be able to control us using "net zero" claims and more. There will still be a tourist industry of course but it will be mostly within the borders of our own countries. Only the wealthiest and those with good reason to travel will be permitted to see the rest of the world. 

I might be wrong about that. I hope so. I hope I am wrong because it seems to me that we are already being invaded in other ways. China already owns vast swathes of this country. Wealthy Chinese have been buying real estate here for a long time now. This is not just about the houses that wealthy individual Chinese buy but about the vast sheep and cattle stations they own through complex "business" trails. It will be a brave government that tries to wrest those back.

We spend very little on defence, less per capita than it is said we should. I do not know how much we "should" be spending but I suspect it is much more than we do. This is not because we could physically defend ourselves. It is because doing so would at least suggest we were making some sort of effort. If we do then it might also look as if we cared enough to help some of our small Pacific neighbours.  That may prove more valuable during an actual war than simply allowing a northern power walk in.