AUSTRALIA, THE GREAT DUMMY SPIT
After suffering through an unusually tough, wet winter, don’t you just love turning up to dinner and getting stuck next to the suntanned bore who has been in some warm spot north of the Equator?
“Blah blah blah, we were so hot, blah blah blah, you could always find a quiet beach, blah blah blah, everything was so cheap, blah blah blah, check out this wallet − it’s made of cork. Fancy.”
I realised the other day that I’ve become one of those blow-ins from the north. A house swap in Spain and another in Portugal, plus an indulgent month in Greece where we actually had to pay for our accommodation (you know, if you get away from Athens it is really cheap blah blah blah – oops, sorry) has made me someone to avoid, at least until my tan fades.
Don’t ask if I’m glad to be back.
I’ve tried to keep a low profile regarding the state of the nation but, when I turn on the radio or pick up a paper, I wonder why it won’t leave me alone.
The media noise in this country, the pessimism, the shrieking ignorance of talkback, the witlessness of truckies with too much time on their hands, radio announcers proclaiming it would be a good idea to murder the PM. The doomsaying of our media, egged on by Tony Abbott (an empty suit good for only three-word slogans)… It is relentless.
Fair dinkum, when will this country ever grow up? It’s like coming home to a giant creche full of self-entitled dummy spitters.
By any measure, Australia is doing well economically. Unemployment is low, our debt is so small it barely rates a mention. We have a massive minerals boom and the future is bright.
The view from Europe is: what are you whinging about? We should be so lucky.
I spent time in three countries with severe economic problems. Greece is an official basket case, Spain’s in trouble and Portugal is said to have problems – but much of it is because of dopey rating agencies and the bond market drinking their own bathwater. This mob missed the GFC coming down the turnpike but feel they still have credibility.
Unarguably, Greece is in intensive care; it may have actually died a year ago and is being kept alive artificially.
Did I detect the same level of negativity and pessimism in Greece as I do from the well-off denizens of this country? No, I did not.
There was a shrug and wry smile and they just got on with it.
Sure, they think the politicians have dropped them in the moussaka but they tend not to blame the current government. The previous one is in the frame after it cooked the books, with help from Goldman Sachs, to convince the European authorities that they were ready to have the euro.
(I’ve always wondered about that. You only have to spend a little time in Greece to know that the government is a bit like a film set: looks good but not much behind it.)
Greeks opted out of the political system years ago, except in kafeneions (coffee shops), where, when three Greeks gather together they constitute three political parties.
It is no accident that “anarkismo” is a Greek word.
Most of them don’t pay tax, so finding the money to repay debts to Germany is not seen as a pressing issue. Many Greeks still haven’t forgiven the Germans for their appalling behaviour during World War II and they’re not too fussed if Angela Merkel can’t sleep at night.
Most think they should default and go back to the drachma. My Greek friends say, “We are not Europeans.” They aren’t. They are Greeks.
In Portugal and, especially, Spain, there is anger and they are facing big upheavals. But they bat on. Europe generally is struggling with problems which, if replicated here, would have the whole country on suicide watch.
It is pretty clear that, with the exception of industrialised Germany, Western Europe has fallen for the three-card economic trick of shifting the engines of mass employment offshore to Asia and Eastern Europe.
So the jobs that fuel the economies and provide the sort of environment in which the middle class flourishes are gone. In their place will be a banking and high-tech elite, leaving a mass of discontented unemployed or under-employed people.
We don’t have those problems. Yet.
But if we allow the mining boom to roll on and mining companies to exploit our minerals and energy without exacting a good whack for Australian taxpayers, that is the future facing us. We will be left with a lot of unfilled holes and nothing to drive our economy. This is an important debate and wouldn’t it be great if it were occupying the air space and columns of our media?
Instead, we have a lot of self-entitled people elbowing each other out of the way to grab a microphone to tell us that, while they might earn more than $150,000 a year, they “don’t feel well off”. They should be laughed off the platform but the media gives them air.
We have the head of David Jones trying to blame his inept performance as a manager on the carbon tax, which hasn’t even been legislated yet. Gerry Harvey thinks the internet is killing him, yet he was happy to kill off Australian manufacturing and source his goods from cheap Asian countries, then charge a huge mark-up.
Ask Apple why, if the Aussie dollar is so high, it is charging outlandish prices for its products here? The Housing Industry Association blames poor house sales on the carbon tax.
BlueScope Steel is putting off some 1000 workers. Before it blackmailed the government into giving it a massive handout, the company was hinting that it was all the fault of the (non-existent) carbon tax. It was poor management and the high Australian dollar, which would come down markedly if we taxed the mining companies more heavily.
The carbon tax will add about 0.7 per cent to the cost of living and most Australians will get compensation for it.
Everyone is moving to a carbon tax. Yes, even China.
California, the US’s largest economy, has a carbon tax. But I can see it is depressing, people – after all, they have been scared spitless by the media and a political campaign of untruths.
And if it is not the self-entitled whinging, we have endless noise about a few asylum seekers.
The ALP has gone from bad to worse to diabolical in its policies, when the only path was really to set out for the moral high ground. Diving deeper into the racist muck that smears the asylum-seeker debate in this country is a zero sum game.
I note that in Athens at the moment they are processing the claims of 40,000 asylum seekers. Last year, less than 7000 arrived in Australia. Now the High Court has told the Government that offshore processing is not only morally reprehensible but legally not-on, and indeed that the Nauru option set up by Howard was illegal too.
It’s time the Government grew a spine and stared down the gibberers of talk back radio, their supporters and the Labor and Liberal parties and just processed onshore. Like adult countries do. If not for humanitarian reasons but for the reason that it is so much bloody cheaper.
The political debate is like tinnitus, to the point where our brain blocks out all other sounds, leaving us in a state of permanent anxiety.
It’s time to grow up, people.
We live in the fastest-growing region in the world. We are well off and have a future. We need to have some important debates on reshaping the economy. Arm yourself with facts and information and demand your politicians get back to doing their jobs.
And, yes, thanks for asking, I had a great time overseas and I love most things about being back.
If only someone would shut down the white noise.
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*Alan Kennedy has been a journalist for 40 years and has worked at Sydney’s Daily Telegraph and in London. For nearly 20 years he was with the Sydney Morning Herald; as motoring editor, stay in touch editor, sports editor, features editor and letters editor. He was president of the journalists’ union for 10 years, a member of Australian press council and on the Walkley Advisory Board for 10 years. Now he writes a blog called Sense Of Entitlement.
21 Responses to this article
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Sue September 6, 2011
Absolutely- agree with everything you say
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Kate September 6, 2011
Spot On ….
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Maree September 6, 2011
Alan Kennedy for PM
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Bev Malzard September 6, 2011
I agree. I have just returned from Grexce and Turkey – disn’t see anyone throwing themselves off cliffs in despair in Ellas, and when I mentioned where i was from all through the region, peope wpould say ‘ah, Australia’, misty eyed and dreaming of the promised land. It’s not that, but it’s pretty damn close.
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MrsP2011 September 6, 2011
Well, well, well. Finally, someone with some grunt and not afraid to say what he feels for fear of being called politically incorrect. Yes, grow up Australia. And as Alan has said “We need to have some important debates on reshaping the economy. Arm yourself with facts and information and demand your politicians get back to doing their jobs.” Send emails, letters, make telephone calls. There is an excellent website, Care2, where you can, through “the petitionsite”, target the government or individual members on issues which need addressing. It is a fantastic example of people power.
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MrsP2011 September 6, 2011
Oh, and thanks very much Alan.
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Mick September 6, 2011
Who is Alan Kennedy and where did he a view of the world that would put an Old Testament Prophet to shame? What a bottler of a piece. Just goes to show there are some people out there who don’t live on the diet of bullshit coming from Alan (the Parrot) Jones and both sides of politics. Why do we say both sides anymore? They’re both on the same side and its main feature can be summarised by the question they ask themselves each day: what’s in it for me?
Keep more coming from Mr Kennedy!
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Fly on the Wall September 6, 2011
It is surely to get the Baader Meinhof gang back together.
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Fly on the Wall September 6, 2011
Typing too fast… It is surely time to get the Baader Meinhof gang back together.
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Jonty Este September 6, 2011
Right on the money as always Alan.
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claire September 6, 2011
an excellent article, as usual. Thanks Alan, I look forward to the next on the Hoopla.
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SandsOfTime September 6, 2011
What a cracking read. I’ve been watching the GFC unfold from London, where we look with envy on the Australian economy. Yes there is a real danger of a slowdown in Australia but nothing like on the scale of what we’re seeing here, in the US and in continental Europe. The inherent financial conservatism of Australia has held it in good stead as far as the economy goes. But please, please can we sort out the asylum issue – I am now embarrassed to admit to being Australian, so mean spirited is the approach to the asylum seekers and so threadbare the arguments put forward in favour of government policy. Please Lucky Country, have a little humanity. It is I think worth adding that there is a richness of language in the piece above (along with great sense in the arguments) that will have me sharing it with many people.
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Anne Lawton September 7, 2011
Yes, but it’s all relative… Australia used to be considered the “lucky country”, and it does depend on your circumstances and where you live in Australia – but things here have changed, and changed dramatically. According to a recent article in SMH, Sydney is now the sixth priciest city in the world, up from 32nd place two years ago, while Melbourne has jumped from 38th to seventh. That’s a huge increase in just a couple of years. No wonder people are feeling it. The cost of everything has gone up dramatically – rent, mortgage (if you are lucky enough to be in a situation that you are paying off your own home), food, electricity, gas, water – you name it. But wages have not gone up. What is the reason for this? And how are people supposed to survive? At least in Europe (to my knowledge anyway) they have regulations in place that protect people from price increases when they rent. Let me know if I am wrong… But to be honest, I’m not surprised that people are complaining. If we are in such a secure financial situation (as a country) as some people claim, why am I (who earns a good wage) struggling to keep up? My thoughts go out to the people who are earning the basic minimum wage – god knows how they do it.
I don’t think Australia is a nation of whingers. I think there are genuine concerns there and people are struggling. And the government, as usual, are totally out of touch.-
Beilby September 12, 2011
Anne, that is exactly the sort of whinge Alan is talking about. I bet you earn more than me – I live in Perth and am not part of the resource boom; I pay crazy rent, plus my ex’s mortgage, plus child support, plus rapidly climbing utility bills but I can still save some money regularly and enjoy a wonderful (if moderate) lifestyle. We are one of the few countries in the world who can afford to be leaders in areas like carbon control and refugee assistance.
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Sarah September 8, 2011
Agree, agree. agree. But what I can’t figure out is that since so many of us Aussies are regularly travelling overseas these days why don’t many of our compatriots come to the same conclusion. I lived in London for 8 years (through the boom it was great) but moved back to Oz at the end of last year. As the country sank further into the economic doldrums it affected the mood of the whole place and the people. When I arrived home the atmosphere was so different; happier, prosperous…no riots, you know, that kind of thing.
We’re so freakin lucky and the most frustrating part is that because many people don’t realise that, they think there is not enough to go around. Hence the mean, dispassionate response to asylum seekers. We could help so many people and share our good fortune. Now I’m not much of a Christian these days but I do remember the parable of the Good Samaritan. Shouldn’t we ‘cross over’ to help the person in need.
If the Australian media dialogue highlighted the fact that we do have it so good then what good things could we achieve with our prosperity? Perhaps we could become a leading nation in the response to climate change globally, particularly responding to the impacts in developing countries. For example Pacific nations, right on our doorstep, which will need assistance as sea levels rise.
Love the blog too Alan….kind of an Aussie version of Jeremy Clarkson…he loves a good rant!
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loulou January 24, 2012
Ohhhhhh YES…Im not alone..how do we get the message to our politicians and media when all their worried about is bagging one another and ratings…
