ON THE WALLABY- 13th March 2006

WHAT ARE AUSTRALIAN VALUES? WAS PETER COSTELLO RIGHT?

"I do not believe that worthwhile values start and stop at a country’s border. I believe they live in the hearts of good people of all countries and cultures wherever they may travel and live” – I.Saydl, a Brisbane resident recently escaped from Afghanistan

I read this quote as part of a Letter to The Editor in yesterdays Sydney Morning Herald newspaper and given that it was a man (I presume a man) who had recently been a refugee from Afghanistan and now was a resident of Australia, it was interesting and thought provoking to see Australia through his eyes.

In his letter, which he had written as a person whose return to Afghanistan would have seen him executed although he had committed no crime, he dealt with this question of “Australian values” and his bewilderment that we apparently see amongst these such acts as –

• the indifference of the public as an elderly Aboriginal woman lay suffering at a bus stop for many hours after suffering a stroke without help or mercy

• neighbours dying and nobody either noticing or caring.

• Yet, in a reverse to these above, should a pet get sick it will be soon treated or the RSPCA intervenes.

• People spending thousands of dollars on pets whilst fellow humans live below the poverty level

He wrote-

" I hear Australians boasting about stealing money from Centrelink by working and not telling anybody. I’ve heard others talk about things they have stolen from shops. I hear people saying terrible things about Aborigines and everybody laughs.

Are these the values I have to live by now to be accepted here? If I did, I would die slowly from the inside – from my soul.

Perhaps Peter Costello is right. Maybe it would be better to send me back to a quick death in my former homeland”

For some of us, never having seen and been subjected to the poverty and tragedy that I assume Mr Saydl has, what he wrote will be dismissed as frivolous or not important and yet I beg to differ.

We have become a less tolerant and more consumer driven society since I was a youngster. We are rapidly getting an “I’m all right Jack” attitude to our thinking and the almighty dollar is God.

Our Australian touchstones of a ”fair go for all” and ”its about what a man/woman is, not about who they are” are disappearing, faster certainly in the cities than the bush but disappearing nonetheless and that to me is awfully sad.

Political Correctness ,to which the Aussie larrikin was and is, such anathema, can also wear much of the blame for it has created separate groups within society and all of a sudden we find Greek-Australians, Serb-Australians, Chinese-Australians etc etc.

Put bluntly, to me that is bullshit and it is why I am so much against dual citizenship. You are either Aussie or you are not and your origins do not enter into it. In fact the only group who can dodge any ”ethnic background:” are in fact the Aboriginal population. The rest of us had our antecedents come from somewhere overseas originally.

People such as Mr Saydl can only add to the strength of our nations fabrics and I applaud him for having written to the paper and used one of our key strengths, that of freedom of speech, to make his point.

I am sure he could not have done that in Afghanistan!

Maybe a re-read by todays generation of the Australian literary classic "They're a Weird Mob" by Nino Collutto, will be of help. It deals, very humouresly, with the battles an Italian immigtrant had when he came to Australia in the 1950's with our language and culture.

What do you think? If you would like to express your opinion, please email me at tony@rainbowchaser.com.au

Carpe diem

Tony

Tony Fountain

Professional Speaker, auctioneer and author

Sydney NSW Australia

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