In 1942, crisis forced Australia to rethink a dangerous strategic dependence. Today, reliance on imported fuel creates another vulnerability. Electrification offers a path to greater economic and national security.

Moments of crisis have a way of exposing the assumptions on which nations depend. When those assumptions fail, political leaders are often forced to rethink established ways of thinking and acting.

In 1942, Prime Minister John Curtin faced a crisis that overturned long-standing assumptions about Australia’s place in the world. The Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and the subsequent fall of Singapore made it clear that reliance on Britain could no longer guarantee Australia’s security.

Curtin’s response was decisive. He insisted that Australian troops return from the Middle East to defend the continent, independent of Churchill’s Britain. At the same time, he reoriented Australia’s strategic alignment towards the United States. It was a controversial decision, but it reshaped the nation’s future and marked a turning point in Australia’s development as a more independent nation.

What is significant about Curtin’s actions is not simply the outcome, but the pattern they illustrate. A crisis revealed the limits of an existing system of dependence, and political leadership involved recognising that those limits required a change in direction.

As an historian, I am cautious about drawing easy parallels. But there are moments that are important turning points in human history. Crisis brings change in what people take for granted.

Today, Australia faces a different kind of vulnerability, but one that also rests on a form of dependence. The country imports the overwhelming........

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