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Comment by stephen_g | Hacker News Reader

The political class, yes, welcome the engagement. But not most Australians!

A claim that is categorically untrue and easily disproven. It takes less than ten seconds to google up multiple surveys that show the opinions of the Australian public. The most recent broad survey was conducted less than a month ago, but before Biden dropped out when it appeared Trump was likely to win the upcoming presidential election (relevant fact because the question was asked and answered regarding whether another Trump presidency would diminish support for the US.) Several key take-aways from this survey show:

  - 80%+ said close ties with the US was important to AU security
  - 70%+ named China as a security threat to AU
  - 55%+ stated confidence in the US acting responsibly in the world

There are other similar points if interest in the survey but the facts are quite clear that Australians do welcome more engagement with the US and see it is a counter to Chinese threats in the region.

You're correct, of course.

But that's the majority of dumb Australians, much like the majority of dumb Americans. Our two sets of dumbs have a lot of similarity.

Australia's identity has been lost in the last thirty years up it's own anus of mineral riches and the feeling of lifestyle entitlement that came with it. The USs 51st state. Yeehaaw...

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