Fair crack of the whip, mate

ROGER PULVERS氏がThe Japan Timesに毎週書いているコラムCUNTERPOINTを久しぶりに読みました。
キャプションはU.S. base plan reveals obsequious Australia's frail sense of nationhoodとなっていました。
全文は長いので以下に抜粋して引用します。
That's the rub of this "unbreakable" yet highly unbalanced relationship. Australians do not ask themselves what they can do for their country; they ask themselves what they can do to ingratiate themselves into the good books of the United States of America. This red-white-and-blue label on the fabric of Australian foreign policy is manufactured and affixed in the interests of the U.S. on the implied basis that those interests coincide with Australia's.
PULVERS氏が言いたい最後の段落です。
Obama strategically sugared his speech with a handful of Australian-English expressions. This pleased the crowd of lawmakers no end.
All you need to do is make a single 27-hour visit once a term, say a few words in the local lingo, and we're yours forever more.
But we should be saying to the U.S.: "Fair crack of the whip, mate." We're not as dumb as we look ... are we?
PULVERS氏はオーストラリア人の様です。オーストラリア人が "mate" を使う事は聞いたことがあります。
今日覚えたいフレーズは "fair crack of the whip" です。　辞書の説明を見ます。
・Collins English Dictionary: informal a fair crack of the whip a fair chance or opportunity
・Cambridge Dictionaries Online: an equal chance to do something: It's only right that all the candidates should be given a fair crack of the whip.
当然な主張です。