The start of the New Year in 2017 saw an unstable political system in Australia and more serious divisions in Europe and the United States, with the election of US President Donald Trump and the British departure from the European Union. Journalistic wisdom claimed a hypothetical revolution against the élites. Disruptions were caused by populist trends in voting and polling, which shattered the Democrats in the United States, drove the British Conservatives into disunion and Labour into oblivion. The underlying ideology was simple nationalism and the aim of making America or Britain ‘great again’. But below this was a thick layer of old-fashioned racism directed mainly against foreigners – Mexicans in the United States and Poles (unusually) in Britain. If this was a populist revolt through the ballot box, its inspiration came from the Right rather than the Left. The world order, which so much effort had gone into creating since 1945, was starting to crumble under nationalism and ethnic prejudice. This was reflected in the rise of reactionary and racist parties in Europe, Britain and Australia. Most of these kept links with each other and with Australians and Americans. European radicals had more electoral appeal than the English-speaking parties. Exceptions have been Pauline Hanson's One Nation and the UK Independence Party (UKIP) in the ‘Anglosphere’, well organized for electoral gains, but yet to make many. Even so the Australian party system was more volatile than for many years, as is the case in Britain..

The main impact of these changes on Australia is likely to be in trade with Europe and the United States. Tariffs may be raised or lowered, depending on how they benefit American companies. China is one of the world's major traders and is well established in Australia, with investments in agricultural estates, the port of Darwin, mining and banking, retail trade and property development. China's main dispute with the democracies is on access to the South China Sea, where disagreement is with the United States and Taiwan. The immediate political impact of this dispute on Australia was not as disturbing as in Europe or North America. China will remain a one-party state, despite internal struggles. It is unlikely to suffer the popular instabilities of the democracies or, at least, to reveal them. Australia has, in general, been a close friend of China for longer than has the United States.