As an Old Bushy from the Riverina, I can claim to have always had an abiding interest in the future of my country and the best interests of its people. Love of my land was conditional on loving all its people and having a say in ensuring that laws were applied equally to one and all, including new arrivals.

Egalitarianism was the basis of a fair go for all, and I saw myself as party to this unity of purpose.

Of course, some succeeded where others failed, but our culture of mateship ensured that those who fell received a helping hand. A helping hand from mates and not from the government. We somehow knew that real achievement was personal and not government-sponsored. We knew that the best helping hand was at the end of your own arm and when necessary but rarely sought, from your mate.

Government support was never trusted and therefore not pursued. The foundation of our great nation was built on personal determination and self-rewarding enterprise. Until we could afford the best means of production, we did it all with our bare hands and took great pride in our achievements. The pride we had in what we produced was recognised by the next generation as they openly sought to do even better.

Settlements were hacked from the scrub and grew into thriving towns on the back of agricultural and mining development. Communities built racecourses and later, other sporting fields where Aussies of all backgrounds proved they could compete with the best. We dammed our rivers to provide water during long droughts and ultimately built the Snowy Scheme which lifted us from an agrarian British outpost into a thriving industrial economy.

As adaptation became the only road to success we developed the Stump-Jump Plough, the Combine Harvester, the Pick-up Truck, the Rotary Mower, and then moved more up-market to the Black Box Flight Recorder, Over the horizon Radar, Cochlear Bionic Ear, WiFi, Ultra-Sound Scanner, In Vitro Fertilisation, and the Wine Cask. While all these improvements abetted life, we never stopped breeding better crops and livestock to ensure the growing population was always well fed. This basic need of mankind continues and is continually improving yields and quality of our food.

In summary, the Australia in which I grew up was one of success from adaptation and reward for enterprise. If we could envision it, if we could see a better way, we grasped it and didn’t let go. We built a Nation of a few people achieving a standard of living which was the envy of the world. Many sought to join us, but we stalled this with what became known as ‘the White Australia Policy’, which remained in place until the late 1950s.

But it seems to me that this enthusiastic enterprise has died. More recent arrivals expect most of their needs to be fully supplied and funded by government. Pandering to this desire has led to an unhealthy growth in government and the falsely named Public Service resulting in an impoverishment of the private sector, that is, the productive sector. Government spending can now only be financed from borrowings and servicing these loans will send us broke and dramatically lower our standard of living.

How did we go from world’s best to a ‘basket case economy?’ Answering this question raises many more questions, of which the following is only a sample.

Why are we bringing vast numbers of migrants into our country when we do not have the housing or infrastructure to provide for their basic needs?

Why are we bringing large numbers of migrants into our Judeo-Christian society who resist integration?

Why have we stopped building dams, particularly in view of our fast-growing population?

Why are we allowing ‘Black-out Bowen’ to make our power supply unreliable and expensive?

Why have we closed most of the agricultural research facilities across Australia?

Why has the government levied excise and tax charges of 41 per cent on diesel, given that diesel is the prime fuel for most of our industries including our defence force?

Why did the government sell off basic services like power, water, gas and telecommunications to monopolistic companies who are now making millions in profit at the expense of the people?

Why is Snowy Hydro legislated to produce the highest cost power in the country and then have all profits go into government coffers? The people built and paid for the scheme so that we would always have adequate and cheap power and water.

Why are we persisting with Turnbull’s love child, Snowy 2.0, when it can never provide cheap and reliable power?

Why do we have so much previously well-managed land now in National Parks?

Why with the second biggest fishing area of any country in the world and such a small population does Australia import most of our fish?

Why does Australia not value add to our abundant export resources?

Why do we have so many layers of government and so many politicians?

Why do we have life-suffocating regulation to the point of stifling enterprise?

Why do we spend most of our investment capital on city real estate and city transport?

Why are we continuing to clog our cities with new arrivals when they could be housed and employed in regional centres at less cost?

Why are we locking up forests to logging when timber production is a renewable resource?

Do I have the answer to these questions? No, I don’t but I know that if this very well-endowed nation is to ever again be the envy of the world, future governments must address all these issues.