I for one am fed up.

I am fed up with our government, I am fed up with the cronyism, the pissing contests, the endless name calling and finger pointing of our elected representatives and what they believe Australia needs. More than anything I am fed up with the people. Thats right, I am fed up with the people in this nation who are not helping us to all have a better future. I do not just mean the conservatives who worship the ground our Prime Minister walks on. I do not just mean the leftist greenies who protest against everything the government does. I mean everyone. I love the amount of information social media and current technologies affords me, I feel privileged to have so much information at my fingertips. It amazes me at what is actually possible in our world today. Yet, every day I see droning swarms of people on all sides of politics bleating their views without obviously ever having gone looking to see if what they are saying has an ounce of factual credibility. The amount of blind hatred, senseless vitriol, chest beating and aggrandizement that occurs in the main stream media and social media pages astounds me. It sickens me. The greatest ability humans have over other life forms on this planet is that of precise communication, of translation and development of ideas which can advance our species needs. Yet our communication seems to be harnessed to efforts of creating bafflingly incoherent slurs, grammatically incorrect barbs and entirely irrelevant insults. Our society has devolved into a slush pit of angry baboons hurling their own excrement at one another, while dressed in the latest fashion, pressed suits and brand name clothes. Australia, what happened to us? What happened to the lucky country, a nation of mates where A Fair Go was the most important thing? Im going to stop my tirade and ask you, who benefits from Australia being a divided nation? Ill tell you who doesnt benefit. You, me, our families, friends and children, our environment, our lifestyle and our values. Division in our society is a sure way to breed discontent and we can all see that discontent leads to violence on a national scale. Australia, we are better than that. I dont want to start a nationalist agenda, I dont want to imply that Australia is better than other nations. Actually, I do. We can be better than other nations, we should be a leading nation and not just in the cricket or Aussie Rules. Australia has the resources, the smarts and the space to push to the forefront of humanity and lead our species and earth into a future that is sustainable, stable and responsible. What we dont have is leadership that leads our people. What we dont have is socially and environmentally responsible business.

What we dont have are those values that allowed Australia as a fledgling nation to weather World War One and Two, that got us through Ash Wednesday; that built the Snowy Mountain Hydro Electric System. We have lost the values that allowed us to triumph over adversity and we have replaced them with selfishness, greed, a belief in the power of money, a mistrust of everything that is different, a hatred of things we do not understand or care to learn about. How did we get this way? How did we lose our path? We are a nation built on migration, a nation built on the toil of new people and powered by the willingness of the forerunners to give the new guy a chance. We are a nation that purports to have Christian values but our actions would have Jesus Christ weeping for our selfishness and hubris. We are a nation that listens without questioning to talking heads whose actions are driven not by compassion, humanity or justice but by ego. Their satisfaction lies in our outrage, in our volatility and our misguided anger as we froth at the mouth at situations and circumstances we cannot, in our suburban complacency, comprehend. So we have devolved, devolved from thinking for ourselves and become troglodytes, scratching our heads in the darkness as we are told what to see. We have forsaken The Fair Go and the mate-ship that goes hand in hand with it, no longer are we the people that roots for the underdog, we root for the demagogue and eagerly lap up what lies and sensationalism we are fed. If your defense about your own role in this slow degradation is that That mob doesnt want to be like us, they come here and they want it to all change for them. Ask yourself this. Have you shown them what they are missing? Have you provided evidence that your way, the way you believe in so completely, is actually going to make their lives better? Or have you just sniggered at them from corners, joked about their dress, their voice their food, have you asked them to join you and see how great your life is and that the best thing they could possibly do would be to give it a good old fashioned go? I am fed up of watching our nation degrade into a playground for robber barons and rabble rousers, I grow weary of the accomplishments of worthy individuals being glossed over in favour of reports on a starlets cellulite and I feel nauseous at the cringe-worthy attempts of our leadership to act like statesmen while they mincingly hang on the elbows of bloated media tyrants and profit gluttons. So I call to you Australians. Regardless of ancestry, faith, fellowship or wealth, regardless or health and stature, you who would live in this nation have a responsibility to the people of this nation and the land itself. If you are wealthy, then offer your hand to the needy, help the underdogs, there is room here enough for all. If you have little, then do not become bitter but strive, learn and work, as determination is what has brought our island nation this far. If you do not understand anothers faith, their ideas, their beliefs, then seek the answers from them. Do not hide scared and angry with your eyes narrowed in distrust, seek understanding through communication, we are not so unalike despite our spiritual creeds.

Australia, we are a lucky country, our nation is our body, and every part of that body has a role to play to ensure our homes prosperity, success and wellbeing. We cannot ignore our illnesses as that nothing but grief, nor should we focus merely on what we already excel at, for that leads to false pride. Australia, stop listening to the angry vitriol of scared old men and start listening to your hearts. Be an Australian and give our nation A Fair Go.