Blog Archives
DOES AUSTRALIA NEED A NANNY STATE?
Nanny state is a term of British origin that conveys a view that a government or its policies are overprotective or interfering unduly with personal choice. The term likens such a government to the role that a nanny has in child rearing.
Tyler Brule, a Canadian journalist and editorial director of a mens’ magazine, enthusiastic for going back to the fifties with globalization, consumerism and entrepreneurs, wrote as follows:
‘. . .Australia is becoming the world’s dumbest nation . . .(because of) the removal of personal responsibility and the increase in the number and scope of health and safety laws,’ Monocle, 2015
‘He argued that Australian cities are over-sanitised,’ I said. ‘Many of the laws have been implemented in the expectation that they will reduce violence or improve health and safety. The excessive laws were accused of restricting freedom, ruining livelihoods and small businesses, turning the nation into a nanny state.’
Conditions in Australia could require more government protection than in most countries because we have large distances with sparse populations in the interior. There could be sympathy for interference with personal choice when Australians can freely choose to live in places where climate extremes prevail. The population emerged from compelled settlement with a predilection for governments espousing egalitarian values.
Both labour and liberal governments pay lip service to equality and invest in the public interest, such as infrastructure and social housing. More than in America, Australians make government provision for those who are unlucky or unfortunate, with disabilities, illness, victims of crime, prisoners, unemployment, or needing services such as electricity, water, hospitals, schools and internet at remote locations. Provision is also needed for the very young and the very old. Shortfall in representation and provision for indigenous people is being considered for affirmative action.
Australians regard themselves as living in a lucky country. The nanny state in Australia attempts to reconcile egalitarian government provision to remote locations. Inequalities of location, between city and outback, are difficult for private businesses to supply equally. Subsidised nanny state services, rather than internal migration, are preferred.
Nanny state provision may not be a panacea, because it can diminish personal responsibility. The irony of the nanny state is reduced self-care. For Australians, this could mean increasing individual taxes and expectation of increased international support for local collective action.
See also my post: Is Australia a Nanny State? April 11, 2023
My novel ‘Turkeys Not Bees’ has a story with individualists in conflict with collectivists concerning sport and pandemic control. Reviews see martinknox.com
INDIGENOUS VOICE OF A REPUBLIC
Australians will vote in a referendum, ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to enshrining in Australia’s Constitution an ‘Indigenous Voice’, to function alongside Parliament, the Executive and the Judiciary.
A different idea is for Australia to become a republic independent of the British Monarchy. It has been delayed by failure to agree how to appoint a government leader, possibly a president.
The two reforms coincide in seeking new national leadership for Australia. In theory, the same leader could serve both the Indigenous Voice and the interests of other Australians. The role could merge to represent all Australians equally.
In my book ‘The Grass Is Always Browner’ (Zeus 2011) Australia 250 years in the future, is governed by a democratically elected Prime Minister, Abajoe, whose family are a respected dynasty of Aboriginal Australians. His government manages the nation’s problems, including famine, floods, immigration, religion, threat of foreign invasion and civil insurrection. Abajoe is able to arbitrate disputes and intervene from national heritage and traditional rights positions. His elected duty is to hold in custody the land and resources of Australia for all Australians.
If the Voice speaks for all Australians, not just Indigenous ones, perhaps it could be welcomed for leadership of a Republic, denying partisan interests intractably opposing national unity. An objection to the Voice I have heard is that it would serve Indigenous Australians unequally. Can this be overcome by enlarging its domain? For example, could the Voice inherit the sovereign interests of the British monarchy?
The book ‘The Grass Is Always Browner’ is on Amazon.
For reviews see martinknox.com
SIX NOVEL IDEAS
Below is a brief description of each of my 6 titles available on Amazon.
Turkeys Not Bees
Two young people oppose a nanny state takeover of sport and health.
Animal Farm 2
Orwell’s satire (1945) continues into modern times, with the farm under totalitarian control by pigs and threatened by superpower climate change alarm.
Time is Gold
A runner trains to run in flow and dilating time as predicted by Einstein, confounding her critics.
Short of Love
An engineer grows impatient with an undecided girlfriend and tries to delay closure with a commodity trade, until they will be better matched, with unexpected and satirical consequences.
Presumed Dead
A feisty woman politician holds the balance of power in a hung parliament. When she disappears, her partner leads a forensic reconstruction to find her.
The Grass is Always Browner
250 years in the future, Abajoe is the indigenous Prime Minister of Australia, with a gene for sharing with neighbours. He resolves religious conflict, eases immigration tension and brings peace to a nation transformed in many ways.
Reviews and excerpts are at: martinknox.com
NOVEL FICTION HAVING PURPOSES
from author Martin Knox.
1. THE GRASS IS ALWAYS BROWNER (2011)
speculates on Australian society in 250 years in the future, in terms of population, sovereign territory, trade with Indonesia, religion, climate, resources, science, government and urban reconstruction. Abajoe is the indigenous prime minister, with a gene for sharing.
2. PRESUMED DEAD (2018)
has novel crime reconstruction analysis and a think tank, applied to corruption in an Australian political, government and corporate setting, with solutions proposed for the problems of partisan politics and hegemony in urban development. Protagonist Jane is a feisty political independent.
3.SHORT OF LOVE (2019)
is a humorous novel satirizing a love relationship in which love is a commodity traded with an expectation of gain. The story explores the relationship of Tom and Vicki, what they want from each other and how they go about getting it. Tom is a corporate CEO and Vicki a psychologist.
4. TIME IS GOLD (2020)
presents a story of novel achievement by ambition, training and love, in elite marathon running and physics. A couple join forces and make a winning breakthrough in psychology and neuroscience. Maxi wants to break the world record in the pole vault.
5. ANIMAL FARM 2 ( 2021)
is an update of Orwell’s Animal Farm (1945), on a tropical island controlled by Russia. Totalitarianism continues during the Cold War and into modern times, with a new paradigm of climate change and superpower geopolitics. The animals learn English and science and oppose rule by the pigs with animal liberation. Dimitri faces another rebellion of the farm animals.
6. TURKEYS NOT BEES (2022)
is speculative fiction satirizing opposition by governments in Australia, to the individualism of Megan, an elite Athlete and her boyfriend Chance, an elite philosopher. Their conflict with the nanny state, sports and Covid industries, reveals the precarious state of individual freedom. Through non-violent disobedience, they depose collectivism and replace it with an individual-friendly regime.
Available from Amazon. Reviews and excerpts see martinknox.com
