Australian values

A fifteen year old, who was recently asked about Australian values, said we didn’t have any.  Whether we didn’t have any values or whether those values were not particularly Australian but might also apply to other countries in the world, was not made clear.

At the time of Federation in Australia, when the Constitution was drawn up, contemporary values such as the right to vote for a democratically elected parliament, freedom of religion, freedom to join a trade union and the freedom to move unhindered around the country were included. Other less defined values might be respect for the individual, equal rights for men and women and equality under the law for everyone.

My idea of an Australian value is that of the ‘fair go’. 

‘Hey, fair go mate.’ The phrase once embedded in the Australian vernacular; not an expression which might have been heard among the erudite and well educated set but one used by people lower down on the socio-economic ladder.  Quite simply it meant that something was plainly unfair, something should to be done to rectify this unfairness and voicing the thought was the first step in putting things to rights.

Whatever happened to the idea of the Fair Go?  It has vanished, sunk without trace, gone the way of the dodo wearing its button-up boots. Pushed right into the background in the contemporary scene, where anything but a Fair Go applies to many, many people.  I will not start on the unfairness list here but it is apparent that many people want to apply the Fair Go only to themselves and to hell with anyone else.

For many people in this country it’s all about me and what’s in it for me these days.