THOSE who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. But tragically our leaders continue to focus on the next election cycle rather than the long term good of the nation.
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There can be no doubt the blinkered approach can only deliver pain in the future and issues such as the demise of the car industry, food security, fuel supplies and coal seam gas (CSG) extraction all ring alarm bells.
Remembering history is important because Australia has been at war for more than one-third of the time since Federation in 1901 with involvement in the Boer War, both World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Our national security was directly threatened in the Second World War.
Our reliance at that time on Britain failed and we switched to the US.
Today Australia has an increasing reliance on exports to Asia, and particularly Japan and China, and the tensions in the South China Sea are concerning.
The US public has a growing lack of appetite to remain the world policeman and all these events create a potential risk to Australia's sea lanes.
This could be dismissed as alarmist redneck rubbish.
Sober reflection, however, suggests a prudent government would take appropriate risk management strategies to ensure Australia is protected if a major conflagration occurs.
A weak link is fuel supplies, with Australia holding on average only 57 days' stock of petroleum products, according to a recent NRMA report.
The NRMA estimates Australia's in-country stockpile, which excludes shipments en route to Australia, at only 23 days.
The report went on to say refinery closures coupled with growing demand for petroleum has left oil-dependent sectors, such as transport, mining and agriculture, vulnerable to supply-chain interruptions or future oil-price spikes.
All is not lost, as I am sure our army will be very fuel efficient riding their push bikes to battle if our sea lanes are ever blocked as we will no longer have the ability to make our own vehicles after the closure of our automotive industry.
How a modern economy can justify not having a car industry after 60 years is a bit hard to fathom.
Food security is another issue where politicians say "Australia will never run out of food as we are a major exporter", but they seem to forget our exports consist mainly of meat and grain, with the imports of fruit and vegetables rising at an alarming rate.
The short term saviour of SPC Ardmona is only thanks to the public and digital media, but it is unlikely to last.
The question of foreign ownership of agricultural land seems to have slipped off the agenda and I now have nine properties within a 30 kilometre radius owned by South African, Canadian and Hong Kong interests.
The recent contamination of aquifers by the CSG industry may well render some irrigation areas unviable and it is difficult to see governments fair dinkum about controls while the royalty dollars flow into treasury.
Economic management is critical as all farmers know, but making short-term financial decisions that may impact our long-term future will not serve Australia well.
