Let's not forget what has happened.
Christmas and New Year breaks, a time when many people gather with friends and family, relaxing and decompressing from the year that was.
What. A. Year.
What follows is a bit of a rant, my decompression if you will. It is not in chronological order but structured via way of a PESTEL[1] for my view from Tokyo looking back at my home.
I'm disappointed to be an Australian at the moment. My reasons include and is not limited to:
- Politically: populism is the new political norm, and we've now gone so far to the right on some things I'm surprised we're not in orbit[2];
- Economically: 'productivity' now takes precedence over 'civility', 'cost cutting' over 'appropriate taxation', and we don't treat all job-losses equally, producing a flood of tears at the loss of Holden yet willingly sticking the boot into public servants;
- Social: disappointed in what we do to ourselves and our communities, such not recognising the National Disability Insurance Scheme as an investment, and treating structural education reform as a political football;
- Technology: short-sighted approaches to infrastructure, as as communication, and transport;
- Environmental: in our abrogation of our environmental responsibilities to 'others' through things like the abolition of the emissions trading scheme, and the continued blinkered approach to nuclear power;
- Legal: how we treat asylum seekers in particular dehumanising those who arrive by boat, pursuing the TPP and signing away sovereignty to corporations, and we still do not have equality of marriage[3].
But I'm a silver lining kinda guy. If you too are disappointed read and bookmark this article which does a great summary of the year just had (better than my rant IMO), and use your bookmark to return to it next year.
The only way Australia can be better is if we (and I mean we) collaborate better, disagree openly, critically think, and negotiate. I'm sure we can, and will, because I am certain I am not alone in wanting a better future, one which is not simply a reflection of the past. To do this, we need to pick ourselves up after the break, rested certainly, but not forgetting what has happened.
Notes
- For those who haven't played in strategic management a PESTEL is a technique to review an environment so you can see what Opportunities and Threats may be there, which feeds into an organisations SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats).
- Both Labor and the Coalition are equally complicit.
- Although the High Court decision does go some way towards paving the way.
This post first appeared on Paul's personal blog 2013-12-19.