Australia is facing big problems. Our birthrate of 1.48 means every year, fewer Australians are born. A nation that is not replicating itself is often a sign that a nation has lost faith in itself and its story.

Increasingly, non-Western nations like China are recognising this national hesitancy and see it as a chance to supersede the international dominance of an alliance based on Western culture.

Young Australians feel locked out of housing while being told that their civilisation is both evil and illegitimate. Mass Migration is putting downward pressure on their wages and is causing many to feel like to no longer recognise the country they grew up in.

Big problems indeed.

For decades, people have felt that the political class, corporate Australia and public intellectuals aren’t listening to them. That in the face of all their struggles they are told that actually they live in the most prosperous era in history. However, for the past few days, nestled near Sydney Harbour, gathered a group of business, political, and cultural leaders ready to tackle the big questions.

ASPIRE is a conference by former Deputy Prime Minister the Hon. John Anderson. Birthed from the global cultural movement of ARC (Alliance for Responsible Citizenship) it is a very Australian affair, aiming for our own answers towards our own national questions.

Compared to most public policy conferences, ASPIRE started differently. John Anderson called those in attendance to duty, recognising the responsibility we have to the very special country that birthed us. Social Fabric, Foundations and Freedoms, Housing and the Economy, Demographic collapse, Australia’s evolving Geopolitical position, ASPIRE sought to tackle the largest problems in Australian public life, but that theme of duty, of seeking to do one’s bit to cultivate a better future was ever-present.

What was undoubtedly the standout session was a series of two speeches, a short introduction by political advisor and Recharge founder Zachariah Maxwell as well as a standout speech by Gerrard Holland, CEO of the Page Research Centre.

Setting the tone for understanding Gen Z men, Mr Maxwell outlined the tension between the attraction of young men to more radical political figures and the very real problems Gen Z men face in Australia:

‘Many of you have concerns about our response to these strange times, as you’ve seen increasingly radical figures rising up to lead this generation of so-called lost boys. But are these boys lost? Or are they just the first in a while to realise they’re lost? The first generation to push back against the excesses of feminism, the sexual revolution, and multiculturalism; to properly scrutinise these modern and novel ideas which, in the absence of our previously unprecedented economic prosperity, have seemingly fractured society to the point that it can’t even have enough children to sustain itself… But to the extent that our radicalism is fuelled by resentment towards our forebears, and an ingratitude for the very good things modernity has given us, that instinct should be strongly resisted.’

Touching on many of the same issues, Gerrard laid out how though modernity has granted us many kinds of prosperity, modern Australia has taken other kinds away.

‘Our parents and grandparents didn’t necessarily live in flashy mansions. They didn’t have central heating or an aircon hooked up to the wifi that senses when you walk in the front door. They may have only had a small fibro. But what they did have was space. Backyards with a Hills Hoist. Room to grow families, and the opportunity to stay rooted in their local communities. That is no longer an option for us…Young people want to build their lives on a firm foundation, not on the uncertainty of a volatile rental market in a one-bedroom apartment in Zetland or Strathfield.’

Laced through both of these standout speeches was on the one hand a recognition of the plight of Gen Z but on the other, a total rejection of the resentment that so often comes with it. The speeches acted as an olive branch in the continually escalating generational conflict, balancing the civilisational challenges Gen Z are subject to without rejecting the many excellent parts of our past.

However, APSPIRE was no ideological purity test, and the sessions consistently put forward answers to our national problems from a variety of ideological positions.

However, one key component missing was a lack of emphasis on migration, for example on the Immigration, Housing, and Family Formation panel there was not a single speaker who supports meaningfully cutting Australia’s migration take. (If they do support that, it certainly wasn’t expressed.) Mass Migration is the biggest political issue facing the country, it is an issue transforming the political establishment both here and internationally. Surely such a big problem deserves to stand alone and be addressed directly?

What is refreshing is to see so many figures of leadership recognising that our problems need more than just tinkering at the edges, that we need serious political change, and serious solutions to our demographic crisis and to aspire for an Australia confident in its story once again.

Jordan Abou-Zeid is the Deputy Manager of Generation Liberty, a research assistant at the Institute for Public Affairs and a co-founder of The Recharge, a national conference for young Christians interested in public life.