iscover
Opinion: For most of my life, Australia has enjoyed the benevolence of a global order dominated by the United States, affording us a luxury of being able to “go with the flow” – that time is now well and truly over.
Before you say, “Ohhh great, Steve is on his soapbox again”, full admission: I am aware of it and it is something I am trying to work on. With that out of the way, let’s dive in.
Forgetting the period of my short 35 years on this mortal coil, for much of its history, Australia has been insulated from the threats of the broader world.
Protected at first by the might of the British Empire and since the Second World War, the United States, Australia and Australians have had the luxury of being able to, as they say, “go with the flow”.
Or perhaps more provocatively, we, as a nation, lacked agency, content to “go with the flow” in a world where our future and our role were predominately defined by the whims and designs of our larger, great power partners.
Framed another way, Australia is as author and journalist Donald Horne posited in his seminal work, The Lucky Country, “a lucky country run mainly by second-rate people who share its luck”.
While the world since early settlement and through the 20th century largely afforded Australia, its people and its leaders the luxury of being able to “go with the flow” (albeit with some periodic upheavals), our world and our region were far removed from the turmoil and conflagration of great-power competition to define that era.
Today, we are at the epicentre of multipolarity and great-power competition, yet for whatever reason, Australia’s policymakers and, indeed, the Australian public, in large part, continue to simply “go with the flow”.
Rather what we need to see is Australia’s policymakers and public begin to take greater control of our destiny and our future as a nation and a people and begin to chart a path forward.
Now full disclosure, I will come at this from the perspective of a Millennial who has a young family, whose friends have young families and from my own frame of reference and from the lived experiences of those in my peer cohort.
Ironically enough for our political class, increasingly finding itself struggling to engage with younger Australians, this is part of the solution to their problems, particularly as it relates to concerns about declining economic opportunity, social investment in the nation and willingness to defend the nation.
This has been demonstrated recently by the Lowy Institute Poll 2025, which among other questions, polled Australians about their willingness to defend Australia if attacked, yielding a result which saw 42 per cent of Australians aged between 18–29 would not be willing to fight to defend Australia, while 41 per cent of those between 30–44 would be willing to fight.
Compare this to those aged between 45–59 which saw 55 per cent of respondents willing to fight to defend the nation, and 60+ which saw 73 per cent of respondents willing to defend the country if it were attacked.
So one might be asking, why the stark disparity? Is it our education system? Are claims of young Australians being locked out of opportunities their parents and grandparents enjoyed real? Or are the younger generations just soft and selfish and want everything the easy way, or perhaps is it that they, like their nation, are rudderless and just “going with the flow” in a world that is rapidly changing before their eyes and under their feet?
What if it is a combination of all of these? Because it is undoubtedly all of these points, with the national malaise of “going with the flow” exacerbating these individual factors to become nearly terminal at a time when geopolitical, economic and strategic headwinds are mounting, presenting significant challenges to the nation and our people.
With this in mind, is it any wonder young Australians, in particular, are starting to feel a little like Chronus is working his way towards devouring them next.
Importantly, addressing and arresting our managed decline need not be a case of reinventing the wheel or knee jerk, ideologically dominated responses, rather it needs to be considered, measured and pragmatic, playing to our strengths and one that puts Australians, especially young Australians at the centre of it.
That means focusing on rebuilding and reforging the economic opportunities enjoyed by our parents and grandparents, ones that have, in essence, been denied to many young Australians, dislocating them from building full, productive and nourishing lives.
This also means making it easier to buy and own a home, to have a stake in our nation and its future, rather than merely being confined to becoming a nation of dislocated, disenfranchised pod people dominated and controlled by the latest consumerist fad or nihilistic social media dross.
It means reimagining and rebuilding the social contract, one that we were promised.
Critically, four our policymakers, this means no more “going with the flow”. We want and deserve better. We want an ambitious, exciting, engaging and tangible vision for our future where we can start to build for the future.
So please, policymakers, older Australians, we beg you, please no more “going with the flow”. Grow a spine, give us a reason to be invested and proud, and we might just surprise you. Or put another way, plant the trees in who’s shade your children and grandchildren will grow old and enjoy.
Get involved with the discussion and let us know your thoughts on Australia’s future role and position in the Indo-Pacific region and what you would like to see from Australia’s political leaders in terms of partisan and bipartisan agenda setting in the comments section below, or get in touch at
Stephen Kuper
Steve has an extensive career across government, defence industry and advocacy, having previously worked for cabinet ministers at both Federal and State levels.
