As an Aussie, I can see why he's asking the question. It's a perfectly valid question to ask. I think (and hope) he probably now realises that what happens in Australia does matter more than he though - but he wouldn't have known that if he didn't ask the question in the first place. It is a fair question.
If he wasn't aware of it before, that's hardly his fault. How much attention does Australia get in America's news broadcasts? Not a lot.
Why would I, as an Australian, say that it does matter to American what happens? A few reasons - some of which have been touched on here already, because some of you are aware of them. He wasn't - he is now, because he asked.
First reason - we are an American ally. One of your closest and we have been for nearly a century. And we've been an ally even in those cases where America didn't have many - most notably in Iraq in 2003.
Second reason - because the US does have bases here - Pine Gap being the best known. We also have one of NASA's main communication stations here - the Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex also known as Tidbindilla. That famous footage of Neil Armstrong stepping down onto the moon and his "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." You got to see that courtesy of the Honeysuckle Creek and Parkes Radio Telescope, based in Australia. I'm sure NASA could have found another way to do things if they'd had to, but ever since you've been going into space, Australia has been part of those missions (there's a great Australian movie called The Dish that revolves around Australia's role in Apollo XI).
Other reasons it matters - the concept of a 'coalition of the willing' which the US used in Iraq was largely developed as a doctrine in international military law (though not invented) by Australia's military intervention in East Timor in 1999 under a conservative Prime Minister (John Howard). In the recent (current) economic crisis, Australia also remains one of America's trading partners with one of the most robust economies in the world (we stayed out of recession) which matters a lot to American exporters.
There are reasons why what happens in Australia does matter to Americans and I hope JimWayne can see that now. But if he hadn't asked, he wouldn't know and that's not his fault - it reflects what American media does. He asked. It's a valid question. I hope he's got some valid answers to it.
Thank you sir. You are absolutely right in your assessment.
Instead of seeing my post as a put-down of Australia which it was not, people should have realized that I was asking for information. The main point of my post was that people making such posts should give more background for people like me. I did not even know that Australians considered conservatism important. Why not just educate me instead of trashing me? That is one of the reasons I come to FR. Telling me to google for the information is to miss the point - why even come to FR, one can just spend time googling. We want to talk to other conservatives and get their opinions which is why we come to FR.
I am willing to support conservatives everywhere, whether the country is an ally or not. Just because some country is under the rule of the left does not mean the conservatives in those countries do not deserve our support.