Australia Day passed with fewer flags, less lamb, and more bickering. The Prime Minister ducked for cover, statues came down, and our capital cities were filled with post-colonial whingers.

Our diminishing cultural pride is mirrored across the liberal West and collectively stands in stark contrast to the muscular nationalism promulgated by present-day authoritarians.

In the coming decade, Australia will likely face a decision to defend democracy in our region or shirk the responsibility and go it alone. It will be the most important decision Australia has made since federation – and as it stands, we are poorly placed to make it.

Practically speaking, Australia cannot fight a prolonged engagement. Militarily, we are outpaced on technology and manpower. The state of our skills and manufacturing base jeopardises our ability to sustain a war. Decades of offshoring and industrial relations retreats have left us with a boutique sector focused on advanced manufacturing, construction material supply, and the mining industry. Simply put, we don’t make cars, planes, boats, or guns.

As a middle power, we have had little discernment on whose money and how much we take. Foreign companies own major ports, farms, water entitlements, and thousands of homes. While we govern the land, we give away the profit and influence – allowing our asset prices to be inflated and enriching parts of our political class.

Our lack of discernment has spread to those who seek to influence us. Today, the country’s fastest-growing social media platform is the Chinese government-backed TikTok. 40 per cent of adult Australians are using the application, which has been accused of harvesting vast amounts of information from users while questions remain over the influence its algorithms have on culture and ideology.

Regionally, we have been out manoeuvred on island diplomacy. In the past five years, The Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Nauru, and Kiribati have swapped the kangaroo for the panda. We have turned up with too little treasure, too infrequently and with a different Prime Minister each time. Meanwhile, China has rolled out military-grade debt bondage in the form of the Belt and Road Initiative while remaining consistent on who turns up with the bag of goodies.

Our closest ally, New Zealand, is in an even worse position on defence than we are – spending less than 1 per cent on its military. Our Anzac buddies have a shortage of personnel, old hardware, and a bad case of the post-colonial blues. Any concept of lethal partnership would likely start and finish with the Haka.

The remainder of the region’s major and middle powers have a pragmatic approach toward authoritarians. India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand refused to apply any sanctions on Russia after it invaded Ukraine. Most made mild statements of concern and then increased their trade with the authoritarian state. The likelihood that any of these powers will be drawn into a US-led defence of Taiwan is a fantasy.

Over the past 20 years, our generous immigration policies have changed Australia’s cultural fabric. We no longer have universal views on foreign policy – as starkly demonstrated by the conflict in the Middle East.

Australia moved away from its Anglo-centric identity somewhere in the 1980s; we did, however, retain a shared sense of pride in our democratic values. But today, that too is changing. The virulent scenes on Australia Day are the visible peaks of much deeper divisions within our communities toward our way of life, government and our place in the 21st Century.

We have done too little to educate new or young Australians about the virtues of democracy – the division of powers, equality before the law and what remains of free speech – we do even less to celebrate Australia’s century-long commitment to defending these values.

Many within our academic, media, and political classes have spent much time diminishing our country’s servicemen, culture, and shared history. At the same time, doing nothing to celebrate the role of Australia and its institutions in maintaining a democracy decent enough to let them do so.

Signing Australia up to another American-led global conflict won’t be easy by any measure. Working people will not voluntarily die to protect an ideology that promotes cultural shame, an economy where they can’t afford a home, and media that promotes division.

Political and cultural leaders must lead a renaissance in our democratic ideals and reforge an identity most of us can be proud of. We need serious investment both culturally and financially in our military, we need greater sovereign capacity to manufacture, and we need our political class off the teat of authoritarians.

Whether we do or don’t join a global conflict is a question we will likely need to answer in future. What we should be considering now is whether we will have a choice.

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