A nation apart?

There is a sense, in Australia, of being disjointed from the rest of the world. Geographically it's miles apart but one also feels socially and culturally isolated. It's as if the rest of the world - all the big players at least - are having a party, and you're just on the landing listening and picking up snatches of conversation. 

The media here doesn't help. On the whole news is parochial. At best, anything global tends to be gleaned from other papers or feels second-hand. It leaves one feeling marginally unable to take the country seriously. Yet when the global financial crisis hit, Australia was laughing, safe in the knowledge it was relatively protected by stringent regulatory measures.

Indeed it is a nanny state on the border of obsession when it comes to bureaucracy and safety. These rules and regulations juxtapose with a country that in many parts is wild and untamed, host to several of the world's most poisonous species and long-time sufferer of flooding, bush fires and extreme temperatures. Maybe Australians need their rules in order to make themselves feel safe. Or perhaps they just have the tiniest - micro if you will - chip on their shoulders and this is their way of tasting a bit of power?