This Country Is Making Me Sad

Save for the 1930s there has never been a more depressing time to be growing up in Australia. Whilst our standard of living may be the envy of the world, our economy booming and the technology at our fingertips constantly astounding us more and more each day we appear to be lacking in a far more important element: morality. 

There is a moral vacuum in this country and it has become evident that the institutions that we once turned to for support and advice have failed us. Religion has become embroiled in scandal, politics in corruption and government services are beyond inadequate. As a young man who has grown up in this nation, imbued by my parents and civic leaders with a strong moral compass, I cannot help but look at the crumbling state of this country and feel despair. Where did we go wrong and how can we fix it? 

First it’s important to identify some of the moral failings that this country has experienced. Our religious institutions are currently on trial for not only refusing to identify pedophiles within their ranks to police but for actively covering up the crimes and bribing victims for their silence. In politics it seems that we are losing more and more Members of Parliament, on both sides of the aisle, to the Independent Commission Against Corruption enquiry here in NSW and calls for a Federal ICAC are being wilfully ignored by the Australian Parliament. Our policies and legislation on refugees, terrorism, the environment and communications infrastructure have made us the laughing stock of the developed world and our government services, such as DOCS, have become woefully underfunded to the point where they are almost doing more harm than good. 

So, yes. Looking around at the institutions one is meant to rely on, meant to have faith in, is simply asking to be slapped in the face by a depressing reality. But what can we do to change it? Is it something simplistic such as reintroducing bible studies in schools or a more drastic change such as a dictatorship? The right-wing in the US have developed a strange love-affair with Vladimir Putin, the polar opposite of the feckless Obama, so perhaps Tony Abbott should trade in the budgie smugglers for a horse (he can even keep his shirt off). 

But unfortunately it does not seem that a mere change of government from Labor to Liberal, democracy to dictatorship, will shift from the moral decay that we have begun to experience. This is not a issue which will be resolved by more, or less, faith in the public square. Simply look towards the reign of terror that is ISIS to see the danger of merging of religion and state. Equally devoicing our society completely of religion seeks to undermine the core tenant that has brought Western civilisation to the forefront of the human race. 

Is it perhaps time that we do away with age limits in politics? William Pitt the Younger was only 24 when he ascended to the Prime Minister’s chair and his reign is often considered one of the best that Britain ever experienced. From ending the slave trade to enacting a number of social and economic reforms (along with giving the French a well-deserved hiding) it is easy to imagine that allowing a bit more idealism, not yet tainted by the cruel reality of political life, could do the Parliament a bit of good. Unfortunately every time I see Wyatt Roy in a suit during Question Time I fear that I compare him more to a Ken Doll than a Ken Livingstone.  

Equally the answer is not about funding, or defunding, certain programs or institutions. A bloated budget often leads to a gluttony of problems but equally austerity measures have proven to fail time after time after time. The worst part of our moral decay is that it appears to be endemic and that no amount of public shaming can help stop it. George Pell, recently promoted to his new post in Rome, has no qualms about how he solved the ‘problem’ of institutional child abuse within his ranks and our government continues to promote policies which are making international NGOs decry our treatment of refugees. There is nothing that can help solve our decayed morality in the short term. Only long-term solutions are able to haemorrhage this wound. But for now let’s just understand that we live in an incredibly bleak time but the dawn may soon rise for a brighter tomorrow.