Remember the time of Crocodile Dundee when we were known as the ‘Lucky Country’ with a touch of Larrikinism?

Clive James once said that, ‘The problem with Australians is not that so many of them are descended from convicts, but that so many are descended from prison officers.’

I disagree, I have brought many friends and relatives from overseas to visit, and they have all loved the people, the golden beaches, and the brilliant colours of central Australia. I have worked with international companies and observed the ‘can do’ attitude unique to Australian culture.

But not now.

Our ability to attract international travel has plummeted, falling from over eight million visitors between March 2019-20 to under half a million from March 2021-22 and resulting in a reduction in flow on spending from $40 billion to $4 billion. At the same time, we accumulated record debt on the country’s credit card, which will take generations to pay off.

I didn’t understand why large sections of the media were disinterested in bringing balance to views expressed or holding governments accountable for opaque decisions until I watched the Edward Woodward TV Series 1990 (think 1984 + 6). In one of the episodes, the main character, a journalist, had his lead story cancelled. It was a shocking decision, he was highest profile journalist at the most popular newspaper, what could possibly be the reason? It was then revealed he was too critical of the authorities and posed a risk to the substantial revenue from government advertising.

Canadian conservative Roman Baber explains that government has become one of the biggest advertisers to Canadian media, an idea supported by True North News reporting, ‘TV stations showered with $104 million in taxpayer funds.’ Something similar has happened in Australia through direct funding and indirect advertising and messaging.

That might explain, at least in part, the media but what about the government? They are elected to serve the public and hence should be transparent in their decision-making. Instead, officials hide behind administrative loopholes.

This was the case when evidence was requested of CHO John Gerrard for vaccine mandates. He responded that he was not obliged to provide a justification as the health orders were of ‘legislative character, not administrative character’ as reported by the Brisbane Times on April 5, 2022. Such a response is appalling, not in keeping with service to the public and can only create an air of suspicion leading to distrust. The BBC reported that Sir David Norgrove, chair of the UK Statistics Authority, supports this view stating that ‘full transparency of data used to inform decisions is vital to public understanding and public confidence’.

The media and premiers insisted that everyone was heavily impacted by Covid, even though the fatality rate for someone under 50 is half that of dying on the road. A particularly egregious example was reported by The Age on August 14, 2020 citing Premier Andrews linking the death of a man in his 20s to Covid. In September 20, The Age revealed that it is was likely the man died of an overdose. The disconnect in the flow of information developed into a pattern of behaviour that induced a fear response, even if accidental, that persisted even when the facts of the circumstance emerged.

When that narrative became unsustainable it morphed into kids being disease spreaders. Never mind that little evidence was produced to support this assertion. To the contrary, a meta-analysis by the BC Children’s Hospital in Canada determined that ‘children also appear to be less likely to transmit Covid than their adult counterparts’. Paediatrician Michael Absoud tweeted on August 24, 2022:

‘Exaggerating risk of Covid to children undermines public health messaging. AND Widens inequalities.’

It didn’t matter. Kids were labelled derogatory terms including ‘disease vectors’ and ‘plague rats’ who would pass Covid onto and hence kill granny.

Granny killer.

There is that deriding and highly emotionally charged term. Who wants to be labelled a heartless granny killer?

Senator Antic in a speech to parliament on July 27, said:

‘Tyranny descends under the cloak of emergency and the promise of safety … people do strange and terrible things when they are afraid, they behave emotionally and look for people to blame.’

The truth is everyone dies – that is a statement of fact. A Cost Benefit Analysis by Economist Gigi Foster available here

which states that ‘the costs of Australia’s Covid lockdowns have been at least 68 times greater than the benefits they delivered’ and through the better use of money ‘Australia could have avoided tens of thousands of (non-Covid) deaths’.

That is the cost of Safetyism, as defined by author Jonathan Haidt ‘the belief that safety is sacred’.

Benjamin Franklin once said, ‘Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.’ And whilst it is now the topic of some revisionist debate, history has proven the sentiment true.

Research from former Victorian government senior economist and now Executive Director of India Policy Institute Sanjeev Sabhlok revealed a significant correlation between the stringency of policy and worse health results. His analysis is available here. The more that personal responsibilities are transferred to the state the more societies devolve into totalitarianism resulting in worse outcomes for the public it is supposed to serve.

What can be done?

Executive Director of the Australian Institute for Progress Graham Young noted that in the last federal election a ‘sullen electorate grudgingly gave its verdict’ with both major parties recording low numbers of votes and significant swings against them. His analysis can be found here. This is further evidenced by the lowest voter turnout since compulsory voting began.

Many in the community feel that no party is fit to lead the country, but as Tony Abbott conveyed at a recent event ‘we get the government we deserve – we haven’t been active, and the silent majority will become no majority’.

It is fortunate that democracy delivers a mechanism of accountability that, combined with poll-sensitive politicians, gives each Australian the opportunity to influence the course of our great nation. There is strife and disruption everywhere, but we can be a shining light of hope and return to the image of golden beaches and friendly smiles once so enamoured throughout the world.

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