The headlines are breathless: “ China versus the world,” proclaimed The Australian, quoting some very important people from the sheriff’s office urging allies to “decouple” from Beijing and unite against China’s “takeover of global rare earth supply chains”.
Australia has always known it is resource-rich. What it hasn’t always done is convert that advantage into lasting national strength. In the last cycle, we let foreign companies dig out coal, gas and iron ore, ship them overseas and bank the profits offshore. What remained at home? High domestic prices, environmental damage, and — unlike Norway or the UAE — no sovereign wealth fund. They built futures. We padded quarterly profits – just not ours.
Now, with fossil fuels waning and clean energy ascendant, the danger repeats itself. Australia holds 36 of the 50 minerals the US classifies as “critical". Yet, if we treat these as bulk cargo, we’ll again export our ingredients and import the future framed for us.