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Australia says it could follow Canada in forging deeper ties with EU

independent.co.uk

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Re: Australia says it could follow Canada in forging deeper ties with EU

#41

Post by BLKNSLVR »

mynameisash wrote: post #32
mindwok wrote: post #12

As an Australian, I have noticed a shift personally in feeling like I identify more with "European" culture, compared to 10 years ago I felt like we were the 51st state and I felt very close with the US. This seems to be shared by others, I remember reading there was a survey that asked Australians who they felt our closest international friend was. The US was the top answer for over a decade, having stolen the crown…

I'm surprised - aren't AU & NZ super close culturally and aligned politically? I would have thought the US, CA, et al would be vying for a distant second.

NZ is always the correct answer but is rarely given because it's taken for granted.

Re: Australia says it could follow Canada in forging deeper ties with EU

#42

Post by bigger_cheese »

mindwok wrote: post #12

As an Australian, I have noticed a shift personally in feeling like I identify more with "European" culture, compared to 10 years ago I felt like we were the 51st state and I felt very close with the US. This seems to be shared by others, I remember reading there was a survey that asked Australians who they felt our closest international friend was. The US was the top answer for over a decade, having stolen the crown…

Australia's alignment with the US was a major consequence of World War 2 and the aftermath of that.

Pre WW2 we were basically in lockstep with the UK. However after Singapore fell to the Japanese it became increasingly obvious that the UK could not be relied upon to defend Australia. At the time most of the elite Australian troops were fighting in North Africa (El-Alamein, Tobruk etc). and there was a genuine perceived threat that Australia could be invaded. PNG which was Australian territory at the time was invaded. The Japanese bombing of Darwin only intensified this.

Almost overnight our foreign policy swung behind the US instead. Post WW2 this led to things like the ANZUS Treaty. It is the reason there are US military bases in Australia and the reason why we have followed the US into all of their wars which we arguably had no business involving ourselves in (Vietnam, Iraq etc.).

Personally I feel the recent actions of the US are not beneficial to Australia's interests at all. Trump has squandered an awful lot of accumulated goodwill already, even if another government is elected in US a lot of damage has already been done.

Re: Australia says it could follow Canada in forging deeper ties with EU

#43

Post by spiralpolitik »

I'm guessing Canada and Australia would go for an EFTA 'lite' type deal. As EFTA doesn't require a customs union it's probably the easiest to implement and build up from.

I think they amended EFTA to require free movement which was a no-op as all the EFTA countries had free movement with the EU. I could see the EU agreeing to a NAFTA style workers visa if they really wanted push the freedom of movement side hence the 'lite' bit.

Re: Australia says it could follow Canada in forging deeper ties with EU

#44

Post by marcus_holmes »

zulux wrote: post #35
mindwok wrote: post #12

As an Australian, I have noticed a shift personally in feeling like I identify more with "European" culture, compared to 10 years ago I felt like we were the 51st state and I felt very close with the US. This seems to be shared by others, I remember reading there was a survey that asked Australians who they felt our closest international friend was. The US was the top answer for over a decade, having stolen the crown…

[flagged]

You do not understand it.

You are probably listening or watching the same folks who are calling the UK an "Islamic sultanate".

Re: Australia says it could follow Canada in forging deeper ties with EU

#45

Post by gg82 »

akudha wrote: post #23
FlowingRiver wrote: post #3

It is an interesting position we are in here, I suspect we will do the usual thing and walk the middle road. Australia, is part of the Commonwealth, huge trade partner with Asia and allies with the US. Why not throw Canada into the mix some more. This setup is why I call this place an equal opportunist whore. If we can do business with you, we will. I also call it the worlds largest Mining town, but that just acknowl…

India does the same. They try to be friendly (or at least on business terms ) with as many countries as they can and stay out of global conflicts as much as possible. They were buying oil from Russia well after the Russia-Ukraine war started. It also worked well for India as they were able to get rock bottom prices. From a purely economic standpoint, this would make sense. Not sure what to feel about the ethics of it…

Russian crude made up 35-40% of India's oil imports in 2024. I'm sure it is not much different at present. Although a bill just passed through congress that will allow Trump to put up to a 100% Tariff on Indian imports.

Re: Australia says it could follow Canada in forging deeper ties with EU

#46

Post by marcus_holmes »

BLKNSLVR wrote: post #41
mynameisash wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm surprised - aren't AU & NZ super close culturally and aligned politically? I would have thought the US, CA, et al would be vying for a distant second.

NZ is always the correct answer but is rarely given because it's taken for granted.

If they'd only just admit they didn't invent Pavlova, it would definitely be obvious. But the Kiwis are a stubborn bunch...

Re: Australia says it could follow Canada in forging deeper ties with EU

#47

Post by jojobas »

someperson wrote: post #22
nl wrote: post #5

Just to be clear on this - Australia is primarily interested in methods of reducing trade barriers, not any sort of political union. Australia is economically served well by free trade: most of its production is low cost, high quality primary production of mining outputs and agricultural goods (grains, wool and meat) where if price and quality are the primary selection criteria it wins. The downside of this is that A…

A big part of what makes Australia a better performing economy is maintaining high population growth rate of 1.5%, mostly through immigration. Has had implications on housing affordability, but it's great for GDP statistics. https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/aus/aus...

Per capita GDP is falling with every new migrant. I don't think it's the kind of GDP growth anyone wants to have.

Re: Australia says it could follow Canada in forging deeper ties with EU

#48

Post by tecoholic »

carefree-bob wrote: post #36
cosmic_cheese wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the American side it felt like we had more cross-pollination with Australia in the 90s than in the decades following. Disney even had a studio out there that animated some of the TV shows it aired in the US (and presumably in Australia too). Not sure what changed.

Apart from the "Crocodile Dundee" and "Men at Work" phenomena in the late 80s, there is no real cultural pollination between Australia and the US, as far as I can tell. It's too far away and there are no real reasons for Americans to visit, nor are there enough internationally notable Australian music brands, films, or products that give visibility to the country, which is one price of being a commodity producing nat…

Haven’t Australians just moved to US - Keith Urban, Chris Hemsworth, Russel Crowe, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie and the list goes on … it’s not the same way as Japanese’s or Korean output, because English as the native language makes the transition seamless and doesn’t stand out.

Oh! I forgot JIRA and Atlassian are Australian too :D Now you really can’t deny you haven’t felt the Australian influence in your life. Lol

Re: Australia says it could follow Canada in forging deeper ties with EU

#49

Post by Sanzig »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #19
bhaak wrote: post #10

That's a brilliant move by von der Leyen and Mark Carney (I guess he's in on it as well). There is currently no such status as "associate member" defined in the EU treates although the idea of special status for not being a complete member was floating around for a while now. Just calling it a "unique alliance" or "deepening of their relationship" wouldn't have had such a public effect. Half of the right wing influen…

There is this Venn diagram[1]. Canada could shift into the Council of Europe like Georgia or join Schengen with an independent currency like the Swiss. The latter would be a nice arrangement for Canadian passport holders. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/1qbq43v/european_in...

Canada doesn't share a land border with any Schengen countries, so I'm not sure how valuable passport-free travel would be - you're already taking a transatlantic flight, it's not like passport control is a huge additional hassle.

However, I could see a big argument for a labour mobility agreement similar to the NAFTA model, where EU citizens in a long list of professions have the right to work in Canada and vice-versa.

Re: Australia says it could follow Canada in forging deeper ties with EU

#50

Post by pinchydev »

carefree-bob wrote: post #36
cosmic_cheese wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the American side it felt like we had more cross-pollination with Australia in the 90s than in the decades following. Disney even had a studio out there that animated some of the TV shows it aired in the US (and presumably in Australia too). Not sure what changed.

Apart from the "Crocodile Dundee" and "Men at Work" phenomena in the late 80s, there is no real cultural pollination between Australia and the US, as far as I can tell. It's too far away and there are no real reasons for Americans to visit, nor are there enough internationally notable Australian music brands, films, or products that give visibility to the country, which is one price of being a commodity producing nat…

Don't forget Bluey :)

(which like most good Australian innovations only became global when it was licensed to another country, in Bluey's case the BBC/UK)

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