Australia is a case in point. When the world thinks of Australia, it smiles at admired images of the maverick golf legend Greg Norman, the courageous and swashbuckling, in-your-face Crocodile Dundee character played by Paul Hogan, and the brazen media mogul Kerry Packer, who, despite being paralyzed by polio as a child, went on to become the heavyweight boxing champion of his high school and Australia’s wealthiest business leader.
The Australian rock band, “Men at Work” topped the charts in 1981 with their song “Down Under,” with lyrics that declared:
Do you come from a land down under
Where women glow and men plunder?
Can’t you hear, can’t you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover
Thus, celebrated for its feisty anti-authoritarian character, the world took note when during a bilateral meeting between President Trump and the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Oct. 2025, Trump complained about social media posts by the Australian Ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, critical of Trump, made five years prior in 2020. Trump pointed to Rudd and said, “I don’t like you either, and I probably never will.” He called on Prime Minister Albanese to fire Rudd. Albanese initially insisted that Rudd would serve his full four year term but let him go. While praising Rudd at the time of his exit, something changed with Albanese boasting, “Australia and the United States are the closest of friends and allies, and this will never change.” All the while the public message was that Rudd’s sudden plans to depart were voluntary.
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