Otherwise, The Current Situation Could, In The Long Run, Jeopardize Their Own Cyber security (Domination) And Economic Interests.
Although Prime Minister Scott Morrison stressed that, “Australia makes our rules for things you can do in Australia,” this is more like an empty slogan. The truth is that many rules in Australia are designed by the US.
Most of Australia’s media outlets are controlled by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation and Fairfax Media, both have US interest groups behind them. Therefore, this is not a row between Australia and Google, but a competition for interests between US-backed Australian media groups and US tech giants – both are US forces.
Some Australian lawmakers accused Google of “blackmailing” and bullying Australia. This is nothing new. Former Australian prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull stepped down because they were both seen by US interests groups as having moved their cheese. This is why Rudd launched a petition in October 2020 calling for an investigation into Murdoch’s media dominance.
US influence is nowadays infiltrating into every aspect of Australian life. As early as 2019, news.com.au published an opinion piece arguing that, “all four of our big banks are majority-owned by American investors… The Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the nation’s biggest company, is more than 60 percent owned by American-based investors.”
This is also the case with Australia’s mining industry. The Australian army is filled with US technologies and equipment. If the US withdraws all its elements in Australian troops, the latter may quickly be paralyzed. Moreover, the funding of US interest groups can be found in Australian political parties. This is why Australia keeps consolidating its alliance with the US and is willing to act as a pawn for Washington. It does not have another alternative path.
If Canberra decides not to serve Washington’s interests one day, it will confront a clampdown from the US the next. In this sense, Australia has no independence. This can be vividly proved by its foreign policy. It has been explaining to Pacific island countries and its Asian neighbors that it has independent diplomacy, but its so-called foreign strategies and diplomatic moves show that it does not. The Current Situation Could, In The Long Run, Jeopardize Their Own Cyber security And Economic Interests.
This news was originally published at Global Times.