Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 1.3% (FY00)
Transnational Issues Argentina
Disputes - international: claims UK-administered Falkland Islands
(Islas Malvinas); claims UK-administered South Georgia and the South
Sandwich Islands; territorial claim in Antarctica partially overlaps
British and Chilean claims
Illicit drugs: used as a transshipment country for cocaine headed for Europe and the US; increasing use as a money-laundering center; domestic consumption of drugs in urban centers is increasing
This page was last updated on 1 January 2002
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Australia
Introduction
Australia
Background: Australia became a commonwealth of the British Empire in 1901. It was able to take advantage of its natural resources to rapidly develop its agricultural and manufacturing industries and to make a major contribution to the British effort in World Wars I and II. Long-term concerns include pollution, particularly depletion of the ozone layer, and management and conservation of coastal areas, especially the Great Barrier Reef. A referendum to change Australia's status, from a commonwealth headed by the British monarch to an independent republic, was defeated in 1999.