Australia’s seismic tremor

The cold-blooded butchery of Israeli men, women and children perpetrated by Hamas on October 7th sent shock waves throughout western nations, and Australia is no exception.

With a Labor federal government in power, the official Australian line has been to sit on the fence, with a pronounced lean towards the Palestinian terrorists. Indeed, some of our elected local, state and national politicians have appeared blase about the murderous slaughter of Israeli innocents, and not call it out for what it is, barbarous, uncivilised, twisted religious fanaticism.

Demonstrations on our streets have called for the eradication of Israel and its people in ways which call to question their loyalty to this country as well, but if some immigrants to our country shouldn’t be here, neither should a few of our elected politicians. They are far from fit persons to govern our nation. Through the United Nations, our successive former federal governments funded the fanatical indoctrination of children in Gaza to kill Israelis. Our current administration increased that financial assistance and they have reaped the whirlwind.

The Hamas terrorist organisation has made our foreign minister Penny Wong a poster child, despite the fact her private life would quite probably see her murdered by this same organisation if she was in the land under their control. The Greens have also disgraced themselves with their support for the aggressors and condemnation of the victims in this savage and entirely unnecessary conflict.

When sympathizers of terrorist organisations not only expose but revel in their antisemitism on the streets, they should be incarcerated rather than cheered, and our elected politicians and councillors should not be excluded from scrutiny. This recent, bloody outbreak of fighting in the Middle East has exposed the agenda of a core group of Muslims with radical views not only in that region, but much closer to home.

Israel is fighting for the Palestinians as well as itself, as the Palestinians will only be free when Hamas is wiped out to a man. If Hamas really valued the lives of Palestinian civilians and children, it would not have launched their attack in full knowledge of its inevitable consequences, and they would release the hostages they still hold.

There are few innocents in Gaza. The civilians who now flee from Israeli airstrikes were cheering the murder of Israeli women and children just a few short days ago. The Australian voter may also be considering the ramifications of electing our current crop of politicians, and regret making some exceedingly poor choices.

Liberal Democracy

Australia is rapidly losing its cultural and political identity as a western liberal democracy, and the last remnants of traditional patriotism holding us together as a people are denigrated rather than celebrated. This social schism is the result of decades of left-wing ideology seeping into our universities, and from there into the political classes. Introduced by successive Labor governments, and not countered by liberal governments when they are elected.

These ideological trends have been exacerbated by economic trends which have reduced people’s stake in their own future, and their faith in their country and its institutions as a result.  Sky high house prices mean current and future generations will struggle to own their own homes. And if they will always be renters, no matter how long or hard they work, they will not see themselves as having any tangible investment in Australia. Indeed, a recent survey revealed that only 40% of respondents would fight for this country if it were invaded.

Under successive governments, the tax paid by Australians has more than doubled, yet their own ability to make a better life for themselves has declined. It was once possible to pay a mortgage and prosper as a family on a single wage earner’s pay packet, but those days are gone. The Government once paid a family allowance for a woman to stay at home and raise her children, now every incentive is to get both parents out to work.

While this is sold as a step towards economic equality, in reality many women would love to spend more time with their children.  They work because they have to, not because they want to, but the traditional model of wage earner and home maker has become impossible for the average wage home. Being able to afford your own home gives people a tangible stake in their nation and their future as a vital retirement asset, and a generation without that stake has little incentive not to burn it all down.

Cultural Fragmentation

The aim of the left in Australia is to see the Westminster system of government dismantled in the name of social justice, and a successful yes vote in the recent referendum would have been a step towards that goal, rather than Indigenous representation. The drive towards net-zero carbon emissions is also compromising Australia’s sovereignty in the economic sphere, and the Liberals are again failing our democracy by not taking a firm enough opposing line.

Our immigration policy has been ill thought out, with immediate economic gains prioritised over long-term social harmony.  We now have a large population of people from Muslim majority countries whose loyalties clearly lie with their religion, rather than democratic western values, and their brothers overseas, rather than this country. Korea and Japan do not allow immigration of any Muslims into their countries, and for good reason.

Religion prospers in the modern age just as it did in the past because humans have the same nagging self-awareness that we are all going to die. People have hoped that something pleasant will await them after their death for thousands of years. Whatever the truth of it, this deep-seated psychological void has been exploited for just as many thousands of years by religious orders and individuals to enrich themselves.

Even if these religious beliefs are false, unproven, or based on primitive mythology, they run far more deeply than the thin veneer of modern Western liberal values.

In more practical terms, we are also as a nation completely unprepared for even moderate immigration numbers, let alone the greatest percentage of annual immigrants on earth. Water, power, housing, health, and transport services are already unable to cope with our current population, exacerbating urban congestion and the housing crisis. If universities wish to profit by attracting foreign students, for example, then the universities should fund the accommodation infrastructure required by those students themselves, rather than absorb precious housing stock in our cities.

It is easy for a politician to make false promises of building thousands of new homes, when there are simply not enough unemployed skilled workers to construct them, nor the space or materials required. Land release in Australia is mired in red and green tape and seen as a cash cow that can be milked by every level of government. Sufficient land will take decades to become available, and never satisfy our ever-growing population, encouraged by politicians as a substitute for real economic growth.

Patriotism and Social Justice

As well as the unintended consequences of immigration and economic dislocation, Australia’s social fabric is torn from within by a coalition of well-meaning activists and cynical political agitators in the same of social justice.

There is no doubt that societies across the world and throughout time have oppressed the various ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities found within them. This has not been confined to modern western liberal democracies; indeed, it is only those democracies which have tried to remedy this problem.

Unfortunately, well-meaning calls to respect the culture and heritage of Indigenous, immigrant and minority groups have snowballed into a strident and counterproductive obsession with group identity in all its forms. Instead of debating great ideas or cultivating individual character, we are told to value ourselves according to a complex matrix of identities which encourage sectarian resentment rather than reconciliation.

The understandable desire to undo decades, if not centuries, of oppression for ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities has metastasized into a divisive arms race of antagonistic victimhood which pits groups against each other at the expense of equality, unity and understanding. Our students are now more likely to be fluent in the sophistries of postmodernism, postcolonialism, and critical race theory than maths, physics, or a European language. Having lost the economic argument, Marxists pivoted to a culture war, a war they appear to have won.

The inevitable osmosis of these corrosive ideas from education to public policy and establishment consensus is almost complete, and has proved deeply counterproductive. The counter-argument that universal, humanist values can best serve the vital goal of true equality is now dismissed as tantamount to fascism or given no platform at all.  Palestinians are therefore celebrated as the oppressed, and Israelis denigrated as the oppressors, so Israeli retaliation for a heinous attack is seen as genocide, when in truth it is the vastly outnumbered Jewish people who are threatened with extermination for merely daring to exist.

Identity politics not only stifles discourse but defeats the very idea of rational debate, as we are deemed to be a product of our histories and genetics, rather than what we actually think. It rejects productive mutual influence as cultural appropriation, denies that members of diverse groups can truly understand one another, and insists that governments should treat citizens differently depending on the colour of their skin. The cure for segregation and mutual antagonism has become the disease.

Healing the rift

How to tackle this national malaise and heal the rifts we’ve opened between us?  Rediscovering some pride in the one thing that unites us – our citizenship of Australia – could be a good place to start.  No flag should fly over any local state or federal government facility, other than the Australian and respective state flag. We should stop dismantling the past if that creates a more divisive future. It is senseless to denigrate the two centuries of colonial settlement which created the prosperous, liberal society we enjoy today, while welcoming swathes of new settlers whose intention appears to change it completely.

A sense of national pride and social unity could be encouraged in individuals as well as society through a form of compulsory national service. We need all our young men and woman to serve for a minimum of two years, including all immigrants to our country under fifty years of age. This would not always be military in nature, but there is much work of all kinds to be done.  Work to build the country, and give back to the community in practical terms.

It would also expose our young people to the power of positive attitudes and team work. Its time students were provided positive, exciting, learning experiences, not fearful sky is falling dogma promulgated for political ends.  The world is not ending, climate change has been occurring and will continue to occur for millions of years. Political correctness should not trump scientific fact. Biological sex is not some indefinable fluid concept, for example. There are two sexes – male and female. That is not fiction, it is fact, and it’s Orwellian to insist that people pretend otherwise.

Compulsory national service would also feed some personnel into our undermanned defence forces. Increasing the pay of service people would be another major incentive to remain more in their ranks. Given that defence personnel are available on a 24/7 basis, sometimes serving away from family for six months at a time, five times the pay scale of civilian employment is reasonable and should be the minimum differential.

We need economic as well as individual and political freedom to prosper.  We should encourage the proper use of the abundant natural resources our continent is blessed with to ensure everyone can earn a living and increase their stake in this country and its future. Our corporate sector, nation-wide, will thrive if a fair, acceptable, predictable taxation and royalty system encourages it to get work mining and extracting our resources. Demand, rather than political quotas, should determine what should be extracted. If it is not profitable it will not be mined or extracted. Demand should be the only limitation on the nations industries.

To restrict and limit our national GDP based on political dogma is an assault on our actual sovereignty and national wealth. The energy crisis which has seen electricity prices rocket in recent months is an assault on the Australian people, just like higher petrol prices are essentially another tax on our pay.  If Australia’s energy sources cannot satisfy demand, then our irrational ban on nuclear energy should also be lifted immediately. Let corporate Australia determine if nuclear power is a viable option.

Australia is an ancient land, but it is also a young country.  It lives in peace in a world riven with war, and has maintained relative harmony throughout its short modern history.  Australia remains a fascinating place to visit, and a popular one to settle, but in welcoming newcomers, it shouldn’t lose sight of what made it attractive in the first place.  It’s more than sunny skies and golden beaches, it’s faith in liberal values, economic freedom and vigorous democracy.