In the 1890s, following the sudden death of his wife, my great-great-grandfather Eli Pizer packed up four of children and his life in Melbourne to join the luck of the gold rush in Kalgoorlie.

Australia's relationship with China is complex, but in one sense it got simple yesterday when a Chinese government official posted an abhorrent, violent and concocted image of an Australian solider holding a knife to an Afghan child's throat.

In April 1985, Bob Hawke stood alongside Chinese Communist Party boss Hu Yaobang atop an iron-rich hill in the Pilbara and envisioned a new era of Sino-Australian economic relations.

It is hard not to be cynical about the Federal Government's latest hardline headline-grabbing national security laws to guard against foreign interference in light of the extraordinary inconsistency of this Government's failed approach to China.

Albert Einstein once said that “in the midst of every crisis lies great opportunity”. For an open trading nation like Australia, the pandemic is an unparalleled crisis. The nation is facing its worst downturn since the Great Depression, along with recessions in key trading partners, severe disruptions to global supply chains and a rising tide of protectionism around the world.

It is no secret that I love Aussie rules football.

As Australians, there's one simple question we should be asking ourselves every day: "What's the one thing I can do to build our relationships with Indonesia and India?"

There has never been a better time to be an anti-globalisation protectionist.

These are grim times.
 
People are dying by the thousands. The global economy is grinding to a halt. Australian businesses are closing and laying off staff. Recession appears unavoidable.

The UK quite rightly was thoroughly engaged with the EU for most of its 48 years of membership. Some might be nostalgic for the trading relationship Australia enjoyed with the UK prior to the establishment of the European Common Market, but that is like wistfully wishing for the return of pounds, shilling and pence as our currency.