Australian Political Futures: The Long Wait for the Age of Aquarius   

PM Albanese and Foreign Minister sat through President Trump’s latest tirade at the General Assembly. Threatening to annihilate Iran after the Midterm election on 3 November 2026 was a long way from the values of the UN Charter.

For a desperate humanity, there might be a long wait ahead for the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius as proclaimed in the Hair Musical:

When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars
(James Rado and Gerome Ragni)

Back home in cost-of-living reality in our Middle Power Economy, Australia is performing better than most other developed countries. Headlines and editorials in The Australian (21-22 September 2026) make no acknowledgment of these achievements.

Using data for Annual Percentage GDP Growth, Australia was marginally ahead of Japan and Britain in comparative Trading Economics data. Our Treasury Finance Ministers are rowing hard in volatile times in the global economy to cope with US-imposed tariff barriers and security controls on our international investment profiles. Speaking up as attempted by PM Mark Carney of Canada only invites more restrictive practices.

Fearing the wrath of President Trump, PM Albanese greeted President Trump at the White House with commitments of rare earth mineral exports and more plans for joint military bases in Australia in a desperation to maintain the momentum of AUKUS commitments in 2025. The runs are on the scoreboards for the achievements of our Treasury Ministers in volatile times for the global economy.

Instead of supporting the best efforts of our Treasury Ministers, The Australian (21 September 2026) decided to highlight the appeal from the conservative parties for vastly reduced net immigration as the solution to our problems. The rise of immigration as a wedge issue in Australian politics is reflected in the latest Newspoll:

New stresses are added to Australian society by the current immigration debate which has been promoted by The Australian. News Corporation through the Australian makes no assessment of the financial burdens to the public sector by the costs of new joint US military bases here and the social costs of inherited tax concessions for investment in rental housing during the post-1996 era which were amended in the most recent federal budget.

The Guardian offered a timely summary of the new networks of Joint US-Australia defence facilities:

Our security minders on the National Security Committee (NSC), Expenditure Review Committee (ERC) and Overseas Investment Review Committee (OIRC) strive to minimize investment associations with BRICS countries like China. Healthy diversification of our investment base is essential.

Cabinet has veto powers over the recommendations of these strategic and security bodies and should use this veto in the national interest. Military and intel personnel on these economic and security bodies lack the electorate mandate of the Albanese Government.

The ABS Australian investment data has the details of our times for the revival of both US and British investment links here.

Since the retirement of President Obama in 2012, successive US administrations have extended interoperability in the strategic and defence policies of loyal Middle Powers to economic diplomacy with joint commitments to neoliberal economics as shown by the data from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA):

In writing for The AIMN in 2017, I introduced three scenarios which seemed relevant at the time in preparing for the 150th Anniversary of the Commonwealth of Australia in 2051:

• Scenario 1: The Triumph of Shared Strategic Might: Closer strategic/and economic entanglement with the US Global Alliance
• Scenario 2: US shares regional influence with responsible Middle Powers like Australia, China, India, Japan, and Indonesia.
• Scenario 3: Reaching for Aquarius through more radicalized political activism within the US and Australia

Scenario 1 has strengthened as the mainstream strategic and defence option to the cheers of most commercial media outlets.

With full support from our security minders in the National Security Council (MSC) of the Australian Inner Cabinet and related economic agencies like the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB), Australia opposes greater levels of Chinese investment to diversify our economy on security grounds. Why indeed is one free trade agreement with the US worth more than another with China?

Commitment to interoperability within the US Global Alliance has reached High Noon Proportions in the lead-up to this years Midterm Congressional elections on 3 November. This is such a long way from commitment to peace as a model for humanity as recommended in the Age of Aquarius lyrics.

Instead, drones are fired off from Russia and Ukraine to use warfare as an instrument of international public policy.

Acting as the Deputy Sheriff to the US Global Alliance in our immediate region should not be our strategic duty as mentioned in my coverage of our options for Australia in 2051.

Italy too had been seduced by secret protocols to join the Great War in 1915 with appalling consequences that continue today. I developed these parallels for local regional strategic policies in 2025 for The AIMN.

Italian Far-Right Government Supports Military Involvement in Saudi Arabia (Il Sole 24-18 September 2026)

Operation Inherent Resolve in Action

The cross-border raids between Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni Houthis have come to involve Italian military personnel and equipment deployed as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. ‘Last night, I personally monitored, with the utmost attention and in close contact with the Chief of the Defence Staff, General Luciano Portolano, developments in Saudi Arabia, and in particular at Ta’if airbase, which has been the target of several attacks and where Italian personnel are stationed as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. No Italian military personnel were involved. An Italian F-2000 aircraft, which was located within the base in a remote area, was hit.

Our security minders claim this local region as Australian strategic turf in the old tradition of Queensland Premier McIlwraith who engineered the occupation of Papua in 1886 while Britain was consolidating the occupation of Sudan in Africa. Returning to the days of the old imperialism is a retrograde step which has now been a forte of the Trump administration in both strategic and economic diplomacy as demonstrated by the rhetoric generated at the opening of the Pratt Industries Factory in Ohio in 2019:

Denis Bright (pictured) is a financial member of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA). Denis is committed to consensus-building on the critical issues raised in each article.

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