President Trump’s Command Society is under construction worldwide to spread the influence of political elites through the corporate corridors of power across the representative governments. Multinational corporations, the military industrial complexes and their related intel services have joined forces with canny political insiders to deliver less than the required degree of reform for more progressive agendas.
Majority governments, as in Australia, are now a rare resource. Countries like Belgium and the Netherlands take months after elections to form unstable coalition governments. Likely Dutch Prime Minister Elect, Rob Jellen, will need to include the far-right CDA Party into his government to form a coalition.
The Electoral Maze in the Netherlands 2023-25
Since 1968, successive Dutch governments of all persuasions have tolerated US B61 bombs in underground storage at the Volkel Air Base according to Gemini Google Bard which remain under the control of the USAF’s 703 Munitions Support Squadron. The nuclear weapons survived the payment of US$ 1 million to the late Prine Bernhard (The late Queen Juliana husband) from Lockheed in 1976 to facilitate the replacement of French mirage fighters with the latest US delivery aircraft. Years later in far-off Australia, our own submarine contracts with France were dropped in favour of US and British nuclear-powered submarines.
Slick political marketing companies like Topham Guerin (TG) brag of their capacity to win hearts and minds in emotionally charged electioneering strategies and to overcome such constitutional crises. Constituents move from real issues of concern to illusions about forthcoming invasions, rampant crime or immigration surges to stir up public sentiment.
With the next Australian elections not due until May 2028, mainstream political parties have ample time to anticipate a dominance of concerns about living standards as the focus of the campaign. The Albanese Government can respond by framing its environmental and social agendas in a more daring manner to appeal to voters who want policy solutions in difficult times.
As the LNP strengthens its relationship with the far-right of Australian politics through potentially higher preference flows from One Nation, Labor must redefine its relationships with progressive crossbench members of the Senate to improve the passage of legislation on issues contested by the LNP with support from One Nation and occasionally by the Greens themselves.
One Nation is now fired up by new associations forged overseas at the Conservative Politician Action Conference (CPAC) at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort:
Pauline Hanson has praised United States President Donald Trump and labelled Australia an “economic and social tinderbox” in a surprise speech to American conservatives in Florida.
It is unclear who was in attendance during her address, in which she commended Trump for having “turned this country [the US] around” while criticising Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government for myriad issues, labelling it a “socialist nightmare”.
“It’s wonderful to be in America with a re-energised, strong, and patriotic leader who has the best interest of his people at heart,” Hanson said at the outset of her speech, according to a copy seen by SBS News.
She highlights border security, migrant deportations, attempts to disrupt fentanyl trafficking, US tariffs on other countries and “restored peace in the Middle East”, as key achievements of the Trump administration.
This overcommitment to the Trump administration’s outreach into the Asia-Pacific region to contain the expansion of China’s influence needs to be challenged by a progressive united front to ensure that advances in investment in AI technology here strike an optimum balance between corporate and social interest by the Albanese Government. Communication from Gemini Google Bard shows local development: US spelling conventions have been maintained in the block quote to maintain the authenticity of the communication details:
Australia is actively positioning itself as a key hub for digital infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region, with several major projects planned or underway to meet the domestic and regional demand for AI-ready compute power. The plans are often linked to Australia’s renewable energy ambitions, aiming for a greener grid to power these facilities.
- Western Sydney AI Hub: A major initiative has been announced by Starwood Capital, Doma Infrastructure, and Telstra InfraCo to develop a 62MW AI-optimized data center in Minchinbury, Western Sydney. This facility is specifically engineered for future AI readiness, including support for high-density, GPU-intensive compute operators and liquid cooling technology. Construction is scheduled to begin in early 2026.
- Project Southgate Expansion: Australian AI firm Firmus is actively raising capital (A$500 million) to significantly expand its AI infrastructure plan, Project Southgate. This ambitious project aims for a substantial capacity of up to 1.6 gigawatts by 2028, explicitly focusing on securing renewable energy deals to power its network of AI data centers across the country.
- Strategic Military/AI Facility: Google is reportedly planning the construction of a large AI data center on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. While details on size and cost are reserved, military experts suggest it would be a vital asset for AI-based command and control systems in the region, including the operation of unmanned systems and secure data transfer via a new submarine cable to Darwin. This highlights the strategic, as well as commercial, importance of AI infrastructure in Australia including the Defence Department’s Artificial Intelligence Centre on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean as communicated by Gemini Google Bard:
Military and Strategic Applications: The Christmas Island Case
While the civilian AI strategy focuses on economic growth and public service, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) integrates AI for strategic security, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region. The remote location of Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean has emerged as a crucial node for defence-related AI infrastructure.
- Strategic Geolocation: Christmas Island, located approximately 350 km south of Indonesia, is strategically vital for maritime surveillance and regional security monitoring, particularly of naval activity in the Indian Ocean (such as through the Sunda, Lombok, and Malacca Straits).
- AI Data Centre Proposal: Recent reports indicate that a major technology partner (Google) is planning to establish an Artificial Intelligence data centre on Christmas Island, following a cloud computing deal with the Australian Department of Defence.
- Defence Utility: Military and defence experts suggest the facility would serve as a forward “command and control” hub.
o AI-Enabled Command and Control: The data centre is intended to enable the AI-enabled command and control necessary to manage future regional security operations. This is especially critical for systems that rely on uncrewed systems (drones, autonomous vehicles) for surveillance, targeting, and engagement missions.
o Digital Resilience: This project includes the installation of a new subsea cable (Bosun system) connecting Christmas Island to Darwin (a base for US Marine rotations), enhancing secure bandwidth and offering digital resilience against potential disruptions to satellite communications during a conflict.
- Alignment with ADF Strategy: This infrastructure aligns with the ADF’s broader Robotics, Autonomous Systems, and Artificial Intelligence (RAS-AI) Strategy which focuses on using AI to augment human capabilities, achieve decision superiority, and reduce risk to personnel through the use of human-machine teaming and distributed, AI-enabled systems.
In capable policy hands, political insiders can use AI technology to inspire constituents with concerns about their cost-of-living problems to justify some modest increases in public sector spending at all levels of government. AI resources being installed in government departments and public broadcasting systems can replace some of the old emphasis on static press releases, television advertising and letterboxing of leaflets at election time.
Constituents should have access to the information foundations to research the underlying causes of their financial dilemmas. In juxtaposition, the LNP and its allies will strive to link cost of living problems to environmental and social initiatives of the Albanese Government and not to the financial shadows of over $60 billion in defence commitments in the forward estimates for the 2028-29 budget like the new AI strategic systems being installed on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. AI resources within ABS, Parliamentary Budget Office, Treasury and Finance can deliver the precise trendlines in expenditure. These resources should be opened without any breaches of existing protocols. At present, the data is difficult to locate with the welcome news in difficult to find locations like Budget Paper 6 for 2025-26.
A better AI financial base might clip the wings of the political populists long before the election writs are issued in 2028.
Breaking the rhetorical cycles of the far-right can restore a degree of policy balance to avoid overly cautious policy responses a more thoroughly centre-left government with long-term progressive policy agendas.
Relying on Gemini Google Bard for strategic background details is not an ideal strategy. I communicate politely by email with Defence Media on local Australian issues like the incident with the Chinese aircraft in the South China Sea but did not receive a reply. In this case, discussion of the incident could proceed with material from other sources (Defence Media Coverage of the Incident 20 October 2025):
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. Your comments on this and related articles can be recorded on theaimn.net site.
Keep Independent Journalism Alive – Support The AIMN
Dear Reader,
Since 2013, The Australian Independent Media Network has been a fearless voice for truth, giving public interest journalists a platform to hold power to account. From expert analysis on national and global events to uncovering issues that matter to you, we’re here because of your support.
Running an independent site isn’t cheap, and rising costs mean we need you now more than ever. Your donation – big or small – keeps our servers humming, our writers digging, and our stories free for all.
Join our community of truth-seekers. Donate via PayPal or credit card via the button below, or bank transfer [BSB: 062500; A/c no: 10495969] and help us keep shining a light.
With gratitude, The AIMN Team
Older teachers told everyone that the way to peace is to prepare for war: I never agreed
It is difficult to form a progressive government these days: Australia is assigned to the role of the 51st State of the Union and is expected to toe the White House line on both strategic and economic issues
AI-deas project: AI and city planning – YouTube Just saw this video tonight: MPs and planners should want to have access to our concerns. This video is Cambridge based in Britain but is still relevant.
Canny political insiders listen politely but do not respond and apply the usual conventional wisdom which is sometimes irrelevant to our concerns.
Urban sprawl has left some parts of Brisbane and Ipswich without regular public bus services which can and should cut across local government boundaries as with popular bus services from Beaudesert through Logan City and into the Brisbane CBD which have been operating for years.
Feedback from personal contacts, phone calls, emails, text messages, letters and community associations should be ethically encoded.
AI can assist here and anticipate the responses from politically motivated populists who are seeking to manipulate election outcomes to their advantage by exploiting the concerns of disadvantaged voters to gain re-election and little else.
Hope that China does not chose to drop Australia as a major trading partner when alternative resources and food supplies are available: At least Chinese investment levels here increased substantially in 2024
The book by Deepak Chopra digital dharma is a unique and positive use of AI.
Very topical – thank you – it’s a case be careful what you wish for!
Thanks for an interesting article Denis.
Thanks for a well researched article Denis.
Political marketing fosters Piano Man detachments from real participation in mainstream politics: Over 12 percent of the Dutch electorate did not bother to vote.
I will be more impressed by Pauline Hanson and her party when they score Lower House seats.
The netherland has dozens of parties needing about 6% votes to win a seat. Here, at a DD just under 8% will get a senate seat. But even with compulsory preferential it is unlikely any two party system will reach netherlands or italian chaos.
ps
grade 9 are animals is the common experience of teachers and I got plenty of ‘4 of the best’ but one teacher used to read us a story on friday arvo and one was about joining all the computers to answer ‘is there a god’? The answer was ‘There is now!!’ and the operator ran for the off switch and was killed by a bolt of lightening.
I know a public servant whose has wholehearted accepted the aid of AI at work and home.
The results are impressive and will make most public service tasks unnecessary.
Pollies will not need research staff. Schools will not need teachers. Students have AI glasses that solve any maths problems, at a glance and display the answer on the inside of the glass.
Surely, AI has put us close to needing an AI to protect us from AI???
The structures of power and influence in capitalist societies are fully controlled by ruling elites. This is promoted as personal freedom and supported by mass advertising and corporate image building.
All sections of the Left must adopt united front strategies and overcome sectarianism within and between contestants for power.
The united front must commence in the Senate where Labor has the numbers to pass progressive legislation with the support of the Greens and some Independents.
The conservative side of politics is developing its own united front with One Nation.
Use of AI for progressive social awareness should unify the Left and discredit anti-social uses of AI. Without these efforts the Labor vote will plateau and then decline as far-right leaders in the LNP and beyond attack the government for lack of investment and rising costs especially in the housing sector.
Demands by the far-right of the LNP for more defence spending should be challenged. $60 billion on defence is more than enough and is a subsidy from taxpayers to British and US military industrial companies who still claim that a trillion a year in NATO defence spending is not enough.
In a lesson to our military chiefs who send our fighter aircraft near sensitive Chinese installations neat Hainan and the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea on joint manoeuvres with US Aircrafts, the Vatican has achieved a good working relationship with China through the application of Win-Win diplomacy. Here in Australia, the booklet of daily mass readings is printed in China. Cardinals like Matteo Zuppi in Italy and Stephen Chou in Hong Kong visit China to further these relationships.