All this talk by the Prime Minister and the opposition about Australia
having close neighbours such as China and because we are in that region,
etc etc etc, I am sure you have all heard this before.

It is not generally realised that Beijing is closer to Paris than
Beijing is to Canberra. 9006 Km compared to 8215 Km !
The distance between Paris and Asia is also less than the distance
between Australia and Asia.
We are told that we are almost in range of Nth Korea's rockets when
in fact Europe is in their range.

These misconceptions largely spread by journalists, is caused by the
Mercador projections of world maps on school walls.