Few Australians realise that the tropical north occupies more than 40% of our land mass while holding only 5% of the population. But governments — colonial, state and national — have speculated about its destiny since the middle of the 19th century.

Location dominated every consideration. It was far away from the mass of the population as well as from parliaments and government departments. But it was close to Asia and the Pacific Islands. Cairns was closer to Port Moresby than to Brisbane; Darwin was much closer to Java than to Perth. Australians could never decide whether such proximity promised opportunity or danger. It has, then, been an enduring dilemma. It still runs through national thinking like a geological fault line.

In the last 10 years, federal, state and territory governments have invested time and resources in a search for ways to develop the north and to increase its permanent population. New research committees have been set up in Darwin, Cairns and Townsville which, among other things, have looked at ways to work in tandem with neighbouring institutions in Southeast Asia. But that is only half the story. Quite separately the Department of Defence has been rapidly working with the Pentagon to turn the north into a fortress, less to defend domestic territory and more to prepare for war with China.

This situation immediately brings to mind the observation about Australia’s place in Asia which was voiced three years ago by Singaporean diplomat and intellectual, Kishore Mahbubani. Our strategic dilemma was simple, he thought. We could choose to be “a bridge between East and West in the Asian century – or the tip of the spear projecting Western power........

© Pearls and Irritations