If you were to isolate your understanding of the Australian people to the statements made about us and to us by many of our politicians, you would be unlikely to form a very positive opinion.
I've been reflecting a lot recently on the ways in which the estimation of the Australian voter, as demonstrated by the decisions made by those elected and paid to represent us, fails to line up with what I see interwoven and strongly demonstrated in our society.
I have seen numerous signs displayed in places of worship and community hubs, calling for #KidsOffNauru. This month the Australian Medical Association formally and publicly called on the Prime Minister to move asylum seeker children and families off Nauru; Australia has been repeatedly condemned by the United Nations for this illegal detention. Globally, locally, informally and formally, we are calling for better. But our leaders do not appear to be listening.
As someone who works in higher education, I see how intelligent, capable, and passionate the young adult learners and mature aged students of this nation are. They think deeply, engage, rally, and are willing to speak up.
But this passion, engagement and critical thinking is not isolated to universities. Consider the number of local councils who, in response to their own communities, have moved to change the date on which they celebrate 'Australia Day'. Consider the estimated 60,000 people who marched through Melbourne this year for the Invasion Day rally. The thousands who turned up to commemorate Eurydice Dixon. The results of the same sex marriage postal survey — an example of wanton waste and weak leadership by the LNP, but a strong result from the Australian people.
Australian voters have a right to expect that the people paid to lead will listen to those they are there to represent. That they are in their roles because they are the best equipped, qualified, and able to understand the complexities of the issues of this modern world — rather than because they are wealthy and well connected.
2018 has seen the Australian climate undeniably changing. Bushfire season has begun months early, the rains of autumn and winter didn't eventuate, 100 per cent of my home state of New South Wales was declared to be in drought during winter. So where is the evidence and research-based policy and action, where is the strong leadership, responsive to the needs of this land and people? Certainly not visible in Canberra, as the LNP have been too busy with their infighting, culminating in yet another #libspill and leadership challenge.
"Here I suggest is a key failing of the current government: they fail to anticipate how educated and engaged the Australian voter actually is."
In the weeks since Australia experienced yet another mid-term change of prime minister, there has been a lot of bizarre behaviour and decision making to unpack. But if we consider the widely condemned move to create the position of 'special envoy of Indigenous affairs' and the choice of a non-Indigenous man, Tony Abbott, to fill this role, we can begin to understand the level of condescension and paternalism which seems to be a staple of the current government.
Formal education in Australia has historically been structured, delivered, and measured from a Eurocentric gaze but due to decades (even centuries) of advocacy and hard work, formal and informal educational opportunities in Australia have widened, as has participation. And here I suggest is a key failing of the current government: they fail to anticipate how educated and engaged the Australian voter actually is.
I, along with many others, have had access to opportunities which were intentionally denied to our ancestors. We also now live in a world where social media has broken down many of the barriers which separated, and kept oppressed, voices which sat outside of the dominant Anglocentric narrative often sold to us from politicians and mainstream media.
Australians, with all of our rich diversity, are more able than ever before to talk to each other. To understand and empathise with one another. To seek education and informed understanding on matters which impact not only our own lives, but the lives of those around us, and of future generations.
With this increase in communication, and a slow but steady re-empowerment of people historically oppressed in this country since invasion, has come an increase in critical thinking, and critical consumption among the broader community. In this way, the body of voters has become more complex. We are more sceptical, increasingly scientifically and academically literate, and more able to fact-check the stories being sold to us.
If they wish to remain in power, the politicians of today and tomorrow need to take the time to educate themselves on who the Australian voter is, to listen to what we are calling for, and to genuinely attempt to deliver it. It is time for our leaders to be better informed, better educated, and better at listening. This is what is required to lead, and if they are not capable, they will be left behind.
Amy Thunig is a Kamilaroi woman, PhD candidate, and an Associate Lecturer in the Department of Educational Studies at Macquarie University. Juggling parenting and partnering, Amy's interests and writing centre around family, Indigenous rights, social justice, academia, and education. She is the recipient of the 2018 Margaret Dooley Fellowship for Emerging Indigenous Writers.
Main image: Bush fire damage at Salt Ash (Amy Thunig)