Recognising our partnership in the world

By nearly any measure Australia is a preferred country to live in. At this time, Covid-19 is impacting on many countries near and far. We now need to be generous in how we see the world. What we do now will be remembered for decades to come. This should not be a motivator but is important that we understand we have an opportunity to act in non-partisan way. Many of Australia’s future trading partners are developing countries today -they are in Asia, Africa and South America. We need to assist to create jobs and refinance their economies. First, we cannot let our fellow human beings stave but we must do more much more than this. Second, we need to look beyond their immediate needs and to their future. To use the metaphor, we need to teach them to fish and in mostly this means we need to ensure they speak English. If we can trade with these countries and show them the virtues of our political system, we can develop partnerships which will work through the generations. We need to focus on developing in our own region but with the working with other countries we need to ensure Covid 19 does not result in starvation for any person. In the long run this will be beneficial for Australia and for the people we can assist.

Paul Raftery / www.paulraftery.com.au