Nil desperandum (or am I chronically deluded)? Is there any hope for civil society in Australia?
Australia is dead.Apathy and envy killed it.
No, not the land itself, nor the Commonwealth,
just its once generous heart!
I recently arrived home from an overseas vacation. While I'm not unhappy to be home, I certainly didn't experience any sort of seminal moment or epiphany that would lead me to conclude that I lived in the best country on earth. In fact I was struck by how little discernible advantage there is in living in Australia, even in Tasmania, over Europe.
The events of the last few weeks have led me to conclude that we're either on a par with Europe, or in some ways inferior to it, with respect to both lifestyle and social policy. Perhaps not as crowded; but then again more disconnected from each other and a common identity. Certainly no longer an egalitatrian cradle of social democracy; just another modern economy where possessions predominate over people and class is equated with wealth and ostentatious consumption rather than personal values and character. No midday slowdowns and leisurely lunch with family here in the Lucky Country; just over work and unpaid overtime for those in work, and increasing poverty for those without it.
And I haven't had to look far to find evidence of our social decline, our transition to what Latham describes as an intellectual backwater. For example in the couple of weeks I’ve been home I’ve learned that:
1. The ascendency of "downwards envy" continues unabated. ABC radio's AM (Thursday 19th October) reported a survey by research firm The Hanover Group which found that people are now apparently hardened to homelessness and believe that the homeless only have themselves to blame… http://www.abc.net.au/am/indexes/2006/am_20061019.htm
2. Australians are now worth $348,493 per head with Costello crowing that "over the last eight years in Australia the rich have got richer and the poor have got richer." (The Examiner Thursday 19 October). Is this man in a parallel universe?Ironically this statement came in Anti-Poverty Week! I'm sure it'll be of comfort to the many people who aren't holding their share of the wealth! Perhaps he can tell it to the people interviewed by the Social Policy Research Centre for their March 2006 report "Experiencing Poverty: The Voices of Low-Income Australians" or Anglicare for their "Life on a Low Income: 2006 State of the Family"?
3. (Also in Anti-Poverty week) – the changes to Superannuation legislation proposed for July 2007 will make Super an even more "fantastic vehicle for wealth creation." Well yeah, but only if you have a job!
4. The housing crisis continues to deepen in Tasmania in the absence of a multi-faceted, whole-of-system response from State or Federal governments. This has prompted Anglicare Tasmania to lobby the Lennon Government for $100m for new public housing construction over four years in their "Submission to State Budget Consultative Process 2007-2008".
5. Iconic social entrepreneur Project Hahn has gone into administration and will be wound up leaving socially disadvantaged trainees jobless (Mercury Wednesday 18 October).
6. Other effective community organisations that are achieving tangible outcomes are threatened by short grant periods (3 years) and disinterest in social policy issues by a State government that prefers to sponsor football teams.
I don't know whether or not there is hope for civil society in Australia, or even Northern Tasmania? A decade of Howard and his normalisation of wedge politics and governing for the powerful at the expense of the powerless has given life to the phenomenon of "downward envy" and a focus on individual rather than collective wellbeing. Worse still State governments have copied the style where spin is pre-eminent over substance and there is no personal responsibility (unless it's for those at the bottom of the ladder).
The truly relevant question is then, what do I do? Do I give up the struggle as unwinnable or do I continue to devote my energies to a better world? Adopt the attitude of nil desperandum and soldier on; or immerse myself in the politics of self, focussing only on my and my family's own needs?
Psychologically, it'd probably be best to do a Latham. Certainly I wouldn't waste time contributing to formal politics at the expense of my family ever again.
But ultimately I know too many people out in the community who are working hard for others to ever rat on them. They deserve support even if it's tiring; even if its frustrating; even if we take one step forward and two steps back. It'd be a lot easier going though if there were a few more shoulders to the wheel...........
posted by Alan Melton @ 2:32 pm
1 Comments:
Allan I'm excited to see you once again on the blogging horse. (Not that I know if you ever got off or not.) anyhow
Talk later mate
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