Australia morphs to whatever size suits the moment
Nature’s invertebrates are masterful shape-shifters. Sea cucumbers can liquify their tissues to squeeze through the tiniest cracks, then reinflate themselves when danger passes. Sea anemones contract into nearly invisible balls during low tide, only to bloom into magnificent forms when conditions improve. Nemertean worms can stretch to many times their length or contract to a tenth of their size depending on circumstance.
The ancient survival strategies of the spineless — compensating for a lack of structural integrity through remarkable adaptability — find an uncomfortable echo in modern Australian foreign policy.
Like a threatened sea anemone, Australia can contract into near invisibility when responsibility calls. While the Australian government promotes Australia’s influential role as a renewable energy “superpower”, contributing to global decarbonisation, it minimises its role as one of the world’s largest fossil fuel exporters, claiming Australia is responsible for just 1.3% of global emissions. When standing up to regional powers is required, Australia becomes too small and powerless to resist trade pressure — forgetting we’re the world’s 13th largest economy.
Yet like these adaptable creatures, Australia also knows when to expand. When seeking influence in the Pacific, Australia suddenly inflates into a significant regional power. When pursuing defence contracts or trade deals, it becomes a crucial middle power player to justify spending hundreds of billions on military kit. When courting allies, it transforms into an indispensable strategic partner. The diplomatic equivalent of a nemertean worm, Australia stretches or contracts its perceived influence to whatever size suits the moment.
In the Indo-Pacific region, Australia’s shape-shifting reaches new levels of complexity, rapidly shrinking responsibility while inflating our importance as a regional partner. Funding commitments and support for small island states contracts during climate negotiations but expand when competing with other powers for influence. Yet mention AUKUS or ANZUS, and suddenly Australia becomes rigidly inflexible, embracing every US strategic preference without question, regardless of risk and cost.
The ecological comparison extends to defensive mechanisms. When threatened, sea cucumbers expel their respiratory trees — a spectacular but ultimately self-harming display. Similarly, Australia’s reactive foreign policy often involves expensive and arbitrary gestures of fawning subordination that damage its own interests. Whether it’s alienating trading partners with confrontational rhetoric or undermining international cooperation to avoid commitments, Australia is sacrificing its long-term interests — whether its prosperity, security or regional relationships — for perceived short-term advantage.
Invertebrates evolved their flexibility because they lack internal structure. Australia’s policy flexibility similarly stems from an absence of structural commitment to clear principles or long-term strategy. Without a diplomatic backbone, it must constantly adapt its shape to external pressures rather than maintaining a consistent form.
This invertebrate flexibility serves immediate needs but comes at a cost. Just as spineless creatures must hide from larger predators, Australia’s shape-shifting reduces its ability to stand firm when needed. Like a sea cucumber that has expelled its internal organs to escape danger, Australia’s constant resizing leaves it without a solid core of policy consistency or diplomatic credibility.
Australia’s lack of integrity becomes clearer as climate impacts intensify. While we perfect our statistical contortions, actual emissions continue rising. While Australia continues its diplomatic shape-shifting, lethal heat, rising seas and extreme weather are taking lives. While Australia refines its creative accounting, its trading partners prepare carbon border taxes, insurers hike their premiums up, and supply chains fail.
Yet nature offers a stark warning about this strategy. While invertebrates’ remarkable flexibility serves them well in stable conditions, mass die-offs occur when environments become too extreme. The same warming oceans that are causing widespread invertebrate collapse serve as a metaphor for Australia’s future. Just as sea creatures that evolved to be adaptable in the face of incremental changes rather than robust in the face of systemic changes are the first to succumb to environmental extremes, nations that chose political posturing over policy integrity may find themselves equally vulnerable when global crises intensify.
The result is that Australia has become a nation that, like its invertebrate analogues, has drifted on the back of adaptability rather than strength. While this strategy serves sea cucumbers and anemones well in stable seas, a middle power in an increasingly complex global order might need something more vertebrate: a solid diplomatic spine and the ability to maintain its shape even under pressure.
Strength and integrity — in both the moral and structural sense — require a backbone of consistent principle and action. Australia’s influence, while not unlimited, is significant enough to carry real global responsibilities (or, to have a real global impact). Until Australia evolves beyond this seductive spinelessness, we’ll remain what we’ve become: a diplomatic bottom-feeder, surviving on rhetorical flexibility while the currents of climate change swirl around us. As these currents grow stronger, we may find that lacking structural integrity isn’t just embarrassing — it’s fatal.
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