Asianisation - here we go again.

[Rorschach]

The question is... is this a matter of here we go again. I remember when Paul Keating started the Asianisation of Australia push. I remember being called the "white trash of Asia" . I also remember Malaysia's recalcitrance and being told we'd have to LOOK MORE ASIAN before we would be accepted in the region.

Well I suppose we do look more Asian these days due to immigration policies and the racist Asians demanding that will be happier about that. Whether or not we LOOK Asian enough for them is another question entirely.

It looks now like Julia has hitched her wagon to the Asian bandwagon. Well we know what the reaction was last time, it will be a measure of Progressive influence to see how far it gets this time.

Gillard sets course for Asia future
October 29, 2012
Michelle Grattan
Political editor of The Age

EVERY Australian child will have the opportunity to study an Asian language by 2025 and all schools will engage with at least one counterpart in the region, under policies outlined in the government's white paper on Australia in the Asian century.

Setting out sweeping economic, educational, business and diplomatic goals for Australia to take advantage of the huge growth in region's middle class, the paper says every Australian student "will have significant exposure to studies of Asia".

Four "priority" Asian languages will be set — Mandarin, (Kevin will be pleased) Hindi, Indonesian and Japanese — and all students will have access to at least one of them throughout their school years. This requirement will be built into the conditions under the Gonski plan to overhaul education funding for government and non-government schools.

The engagement with Asian schools will support the teaching of a priority Asian language and take advantage of the National Broadband Network. I'm not so sure that this one is a particularly good idea.

Julia Gillard said the 312-page paper brought together existing policy directions and added to them. But the paper's ambitious initiatives are not accompanied by any announcement of increased money to pay for them.

The commitment to Asian languages is among the most important in the paper, because language teaching has fallen substantially in recent years. In 2008, fewer than 6 per cent of year 12 students studied Indonesian, Japanese, Korean or Chinese. While the white paper's goals are for 2025, implementation of the language push would start in 2014, when the Gonski funding begins.

The paper proposes 12,000 Australia Awards for Australians to study in the region and students from the region to undertake study or professional development in Australia. A double edged sword of an idea.

The paper — which is government policy, not a report to government — has been prepared by a panel chaired by former Treasury secretary Ken Henry. Launching it at the Lowy Institute, Ms Gillard said: "The world economy is coming our way."

"Asia will become home to most of the world's middle class by as early as 2025. Not only becoming the world's largest producer of goods and services — becoming the largest consumer of them". This was good news for Australia "and it should drive a profound change in our thinking about our economic relationship with Asia", she said. Except manufacturing in Australia was virtually destroyed by past ALP policies.

"Success for an open Australia in a middle class Asia starts in the classrooms, training centres and lecture theatres of our nation".

She said that for the whole Australian economy to be as strong as mining and agriculture,"the whole economy must be as engaged in the region as mining and agriculture".

The government will appoint a Jakarta-based ambassador to ASEAN; the paper also proposes a very modest expansion of representation in the region, including an embassy in Mongolia.

Among 25 objectives the paper sets out is for Australia to increase its GDP per person to be in the world's top 10 by 2025 — it is 13th at present. This would take its average real national income per person from $62,000 this year to $73,000 in 2025. If that is the current average then the vast majority of Australians are being dudded because they are well beneath it. Let's not even mention those currently unemployed.

The paper says success in the Asian century "requires a whole-of-Australia effort, with business, unions, communities and governments being partners in a transformation as profound as any that have defined Australia throughout our history". Big on the rhetoric eh...

Australia needs to act in five key areas: building on its own economic strength, developing capacities suited to dealing with Asia, operating in and connecting to growing Asian markets, promoting regional security and stability, and deepening and broadening relationships at every level. Does it also include the avoidance of being subsumed by Asian countries?

The paper sets the goal of one-third of board members of Australia’s top 200 publicly listed companies and Commonwealth bodies having 'deep experience in and knowledge of Asia'. Why? Surely they should have a broad global knowledge or specific knowledge pertaining to their industry. Oh dear don't tell me you are being discriminatory.

The same goal would apply for the top level of the federal public service. The Australian Institute of Company Directors should integrate Asian cultural competency training into its company directors course while the Australian trade union movement should develop greater regional expertise.

Tony Abbott said the opposition broadly welcomed the paper but while it was full of 'laudable goals' there were 'not very many specific initiatives and certainly no commitment of money to any of them'.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politi ... z2AdcvXepP" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It all sounds pretty myopic to me.

The white paper... http://asiancentury.dpmc.gov.au/white-paper" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Rorschach]

Well it seems supporters of Asianisation also have good memories.
Like I always say... don't take my word for it...
(Hence my always quoting others opinions and facts as backup)

for those not wanting to read the article here there's a link at the end

Return of the 'vision thing'
October 29, 2012 - 8:08AM
Daniel Flitton
Senior Correspondent

THIS is a return to the big picture. Grand sweeping visions of Australia's place in Asia was a hallmark of the Keating era, but economic turmoil in the late 1990s — and John Howard's favour of history over geography — allowed the neighourhood to fade from the national story. Yet we are NOT part of Asia or the Asian region.

No more. The luminaries of the Asia project for Australia, ancient and new, turned out yesterday to celebrate a prime minister again embracing the "vision thing".

The white paper does leave the impression that what was once old is new again, and the seating plan at an earlier event told a story of Australia's fitful Asian embrace. Bob Hawke — who had his own Asia foray as leader by driving APEC, the region's economic talking shop — sat bookended by Bob Carr and Philip Ruddock.

The former is now charged to keep cozy with the neighbours; the latter was immigration minister in the Howard years and did more than any other to warn of the threat from asylum boats transversing the region.

Australia has swung over the years between seeing Asia as an opportunity or a threat. The US alliance was founded on a fear of Japanese rearmament and "Yellow Peril", whereas modern China is regarded as a cash cow for Australia's prosperity.

Julia Gillard was unambiguous: the Asia that we live in now is the right place to be. Yet we are NOT part of Asia or the Asian region.

The principal success of this paper is to make the term 'Asian century' part of the national conversation. The importance of social media is easily overblown, but it is illustrative that some 45,000 Twitter messages leapt over the wires about Australia's ties to Asia in the 25 minutes it took Gillard to deliver her speech.

But the lofty ambition in the paper is also a weakness. Labor’s idea might have been to change the mindset at home about what the region offers and build a story to explain its various policies, from the NBN to school eduction. But a document like this will inevitably be closely scrutinised abroad. And ways in which to exploit it to "Asian" advantage will be their priority. they know what a soft touch we are.

From the outside, the government has left the impression profiting from Asia is Australia’s only real ambition. The heavy economic focus misses the chance to present a vision of regional co-operation beyond the safe platitudes in support of alliance relationships that have brought us to the present. Yet we are NOT part of Asia or the Asian region.

But business as usual won’t be enough. The consequences of a transformation that will see China become the world’s largest single economy are largely bypassed by the paper.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politi ... z2AdiVPtrq" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Rorschach]

THE FEDERAL government's plan to allow all students to study an Asian language would cost billions of dollars, an Asia policy expert says.

Professor Ken Chern praised the government's ''ambitious'' strategy to strengthen ties with Asia but said it would require a major financial commitment.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politi ... z2AdlvmA3O" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

JULIA Gillard has outlined an ambitious plan to "Asianise" the Australian economy and education system to tap into the vast middle-class markets that will emerge in China, India and Indonesia in the next two decades.

http://www.news.com.au/national/pm-laun ... 6504877133" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Rorschach]

Meaningless promises, replete with pure spin
* by: Greg Sheridan, Foreign editor
* From: The Australian
* October 29, 2012 12:00AM

THE Gillard government white paper on Asia is a fraud. On every level, it is a con job. The government is having a lend of us. Its only admirable quality is its chutzpah.

No Australian government since that of Billy McMahon has done less to increase the level of Asian engagement it inherited when coming to office than the Gillard government.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion ... 6504883718" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Neferti]

Gizzard is engaging in distraction tactics. We might not consider that we live in Asia or the Asian region but the BBC does. They even have an article on this particular item, see link below!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/asia/

[Rorschach]

Well I have an Atlas and since I was a kid with an Atlas and Encyclopedias, we were never in Asia.
Mind you Macquarie Dictionary like other LW Progressive staffed entities have a habit of fudging the facts and changing definitions.



ASIA

[Rorschach]

What about SE Asia I hear the cry...



Nope... not there either.

[Neferti]

I know, Australia is NOT in Asia but the BBC seems to think we are. They include China as in Asia as well .... guess it is just the ignorant Poms. The British also refer to anyone from India, Pakistan, and around there, as well as the Chinese, Malaysians, etc as "Asians" whereas we refer to them by the country they came from. They call us Aussies but still think of us as former convicts.

[Rorschach]

Well the BBC is full of ignorant LW Progs then Nef.
BTW China has always been part of Asia. Well that is what I was taught.
Not SE Asia, that is mainly Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, etc. But SE Asia like NE Asia are also parts of (greater) Asia.

ps. Nef I just checked that link it doesn't appear there that the BBC think Australia is part of Asia... the story is there because of Julia's Asian based policy. Mind you, I could have missed something.

[Neferti]

Well the BBC is full of ignorant LW Progs then Nef.
BTW China has always been part of Asia. Well that is what I was taught.
Not SE Asia, that is mainly Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, etc. But SE Asia like NE Asia are also parts of (greater) Asia.

ps. Nef I just checked that link it doesn't appear there that the BBC think Australia is part of Asia... the story is there because of Julia's Asian based policy. Mind you, I could have missed something.

The BBC ALWAYS puts articles about Australia in the Asia Section. We don't fit in the other areas, these are all they have:

UK
Africa
Asia
Europe
Latin America
Mid-East
US & Canada

I guess we aren't important enough to have an Australia/New Zealand or even, say, a South Pacific area?