Essays For Australia

In the first few months of 2020, fear regarding the new Covid-19 virus was palpable, and understandable. Educated citizens of many democratic nations around the world faced draconian government-issued restrictions on human movement, personal behaviour, and business operations. But, as the months went by and evidence accumulated that contraindicated population-wide restrictions, the continued willingness of individuals to accept them [...]

Having recently obtained the special permission needed to leave Australia on government business, my fellow advisors to the UK Board of Trade were curious to know how life was going in the place they’d dubbed “Aus-catraz”. Not since the convict era, I suspect, would Britons have regarded their lives as freer and more easy-going than life in Australia but [...]

Australia is a sovereign state with a unique national character that it is entitled to preserve, not just because it is ours, but because it is good. The Australian character, rooted in a profound respect for individuals and their freedoms and duties, is a particular expression of the English-speaking variant of Western Civilisation and its values, which are responsible [...]

Australia has always prided itself on being a frontier land. Our vast and isolated landscape gave rise to a rugged individualism and self-reliance. Our convict past fed into the image of Australians as being naturally sceptical of authority. Our egalitarian ethos gave rise to a distrust of the establishment and dislike of elitism. The Australian approach can perhaps be [...]

For many Australians, Australia no longer feels like Australia. The relaxed, sunny, and optimistic attitude characteristic of the quintessential Australian has been replaced by a deep sense of pessimism, malaise, and a loss of self-confidence and self-belief. There is a growing unease that something has gone very wrong with our country and way of life, accompanied by an unshakable [...]