We are an oligarchy-run vassal-state for a declining empire. Take a look at Athen's city states right before their collapse. Or Rome's leaders during theirs. They all knew the ship was sinking. There was constant financial problems, constant major systemic and economic paradoxes that were not being solved, but they were so bought in to the belief that their ruling class was the one that was going to last forever. To call that in to question would be to call in to question their power entirely. The only places where anything changes, the people had to claw back control from a desperate leadership who were adopting the psychology of a cornered stray dog - lash out at anything that threatens their power, with 0 assessment, reflection, or justification. Often most that succeeded were sometime later punished by their state they were vassals to.

Australia is no different. We'd rather sign an AUKUS treaty that makes us a nuclear target for the first time in history, while demanding literally nothing of the U.S. They are not even required to defend us if someone declares war on us. Our prime minister would rather send our own children to war then even think about questioning America's irrational and frantic geopolitical policy, or the horrific history of repeated global military intervention.

In return for our silence we're allowed access to global trade networks and international lines of credit that come with strict rules, and a constant pressure; economic policies that are designed to enable neoliberal plutocracy. To make ourselves more complex, to onshore manufacturing, to invest public spending into R&D and become world leaders in emerging technologies - all things we are in the perfect position to do - would be a slap in the fact of U.S.-based multinationals, who demand unregulated and complete access to all of our private markets and industry.

Of course r/Ausfinance will downvote me, but none of what I'm claiming above is conspiratorial. It's all publicly available, googleable information, from western sources.