HOWARD-appointed statesman Michael Baume has warned of Australia’s national decline – saying the country was being ruined from within.
The former federal MP, senator and New York-based Consul-General, who recently turned 90, said the best years of Australia appeared to be largely behind it.
He said resilience, self-reliance and an entrepreneurial spirit had seemingly been replaced by hate laws, censorship and people seeking reasons to be offended.
WRECKAGE
He warned drug use was turning productive citizens into human wreckage on a national scale and that strength of character was now rarely, if ever, tested.
Mr Baume made his comments in an opinion piece published in The Spectator Australia magazine earlier this month.
He said the national character of self-deprecating mateship and free & lively discussion was being trashed by “hate laws and censorship by minorities”.
“Our national character is being replaced by those constantly seeking reasons to be ‘offended’,” he wrote.
RUDD/GILLARD
“This includes mob rule, de-platforming views contrary to the current woke fashion (especially at universities), expectation that government will provide, an entitlement mentality as half the population receives some sort of direct public funding (even before the COVID-19 hand-outs) and by the fragility of a generation that needs safe spaces and trigger warnings…
“The change from Australia being renowned for its beer consumption to being a major customer for the world drug trade is steadily increasing the volume of human wreckage.
“The absence of real crises (until COVID-19) along with the collapse of the religious ethic that underpinned society has meant the strength of character of the nation has not really been tested.”
Mr Baume indicated much of this shift could be traced back to the Rudd/Gillard governments.
“The end of the Howard government in 2007 was the turning point,” he wrote.
“Up to then, Australia had been renowned for mateship, a boisterous and often self-deprecating sense of humour, for free and lively discussion, for resilience and self-reliance when facing adversity, for a waste-not want-not ethos, for saving up to buy things, for owning your own home and for the entrepreneurial spirit that launched industries like steel, manufacturing and mining (that now almost on its own has to carry the burden of our national export wealth).
“It is evident that we have enjoyed the best years of Australia, economically, politically, socially and even culturally,” he wrote.
Mr Baume’s comments come hot on the heels of accusations by NSW Government Whip Natasha Maclaren-Jones who last month blasted government agencies for “weaponsing against Australians who hold differing views”.
In a scathing parliamentary speech, she blamed a serious lack of oversight for allowing the Human Rights Commission, among other government agencies, to punish “wrong-thinking” citizens.
WEAPON
“It is unconscionable for a country like Australia to allow agencies inside of government to be turned into a weapon,” Ms Maclaren-Jones told the NSW Parliament.
The Human Rights Commission was established as a statutory agency in 1986 with the purpose of pursuing discrimination injustice.
“The problem we now have is that in some instances it is being used as a weapon of choice against Australia’s own citizens who may have a different point of view from ‘permanently outraged’ activists,” she said.
Ms Maclaren-Jones said because the Commission was a statutory office with its commissioner holding tenor, there was little accountability of its activities.
“Now they are used to silence citizens, with the ultimate aim to discourage and stifle free thought, opinion and speech – just because it is not consistent with the permanently outraged person’s point of view,” she said.PC
Great article Mr. Baume – all unfortunately so true!
YES, – young Australians have not had their mettle tested with any great crisis. They have known no real hardship, they are basically spoilt and have excess idle time. Covid-19 hardly affects the younger generations and although the restrictions are tiresome, the Government’s largesse is presently taking up any slack for most. It may take more time before the ensuing economic woes hit these younger generations.
Rude, loud and self-obsessed are now some of the words that could describe so many Australian youngsters. The checks and balances of Christian behaviour coupled with the commandment to love thy neighbour are foreign to so many and all too obviously, discipline, good manners and respectful public behaviour are qualities no longer taught or expected in many homes.
And good on Ms Maclaren-Jones for calling out the NSW Govt. and especially the H.R. Commission which has proved so ridiculous, so inane that it really is a laughing stock. As far as most astute Citizens are concerned, it MUST retire into oblivion; we didn’t vote for it, we don’t want it or need it!