Cracks

One of the really interesting things about the appearance of COVID in our world is how crises, especially ones that run for some time highlight some of the cracks in our society. Not just in Australia but in all countries.

Wearing or not wearing a mask has somehow become a political statement in the USA where mask wearing seems to be split along whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, conservative or progressive. Personally I can’t work out how a basic measure to protect yourself and others from the virus has become such a symbol but there you go. The USA is of course a culture with an incredibly strong underlying value of personal freedom as removed as possible from government restraints but FFS this is a medical emergency.

In Australia we are seeing some of this too. As you will wherever there are people who take the libertarian notion on board to the exclusion of virtually all else. In our case it is more seen in the protests against lockdowns that are starting to occur in the affected areas. In this case I have a little more understanding of the views if not the boneheaded way that the protesters choose to express them. The biggest problem here is that the crowd seems to be often made up of members of the radical left and right. Normally you would expect an intolerance of opposing viewpoints but the alleged removal of essential freedoms by the government has brought enemies together to push their loose agendas of anarchy or the relief of some imagined white male oppression.

However also in the crowd are some general punters who can see their livelihoods and life styles rapidly going down the toilet. I can understand the way they feel but I don’t support what they are doing.

All pretty standard stuff and nothing we haven’t seen in other countries as the virus has waxed and waned. I definitely think that the loss of confidence in our institutions and the rise of social media and its ability to push alternative facts are playing a part as well.  But in Australia I think there is an additional element that just might be an all-Aussie invention. It is a crack that has been in the wall called Federation that we built back in 1901. It is part of our history and heritage and as difficult to remove as a genetic predisposition to red hair or the ability to roll your tongue.

I am talking about the never-ending rivalry between the Australian states. Manifested usually in sport, political sniping, competition for cultural events and festivals, political ego trips and spending millions of taxpayers dollars in contests to lure manipulative multinational companies to create a head office pseudo or real in the winner’s state.

I was born and bred in Queensland, the state that more than any other carries on in this wasteful, idiotic way. The politicians do it because apparently it wins votes. The rest of us do it because we have a chip on our collective shoulder the size of a Bunya Pine. Be it beaches or rugby league or sunshine we in Queensland just can’t imagine why you would live anywhere else. As if the whole purpose of being alive is to always be warm and get one up on those smarty pants people down south while buying as many boy’s toys that you can fit on the road or on the ocean. Jesus I wish as a state we would grow up.

Western Australia is of course little better and often threatens to succeed and became a separate country, the economy buoyed by the never-ending demand for its iron ore. Isn’t it so unfair that we have to share the royalties with those people in the eastern states the West Australians always say? Their head of state could be Gina Rinehart, a woman always happy to tell how others how they should contribute to the country, but who through accident of birth was fabulously wealthy from the second she first drew breath.

Of course NSW and Victoria fight their own battles around who has the most happening suburbs, best schools, most ridiculously unaffordable real estate, biggest urban spread, best snow, football code or the best approach to relieving the pain of the COVID pandemic on their inhabitants.

The other two states, Tasmania and South Australia seem to have a different approach to how to carry on their business. Modest, unassuming they have a more take it or leave it approach. Many would say that they have much to be modest about but maybe because they know they are not the big boys or that their charms are more exclusive and therefore harder to replicate they seem to avoid most of the carry on.

As for the Northern Territory and the ACT they are different again, almost step siblings, very like us but in some subtle ways different, part of the family and yet not quite originating from the same acts of conception and marriage. In both cases living there seems to be the result of a rare and irresistible desire. One that I don’t share but if it floats your boat, go for it.

As for the Federal Government, well of course it has its own agenda as it must do but this current one is guilty of playing favourites and you know what happens when the supposed responsible adult in the room starts playing favourites with the kids.

Of course we are a Federation made up of states with different beginnings at different times. Sydney was a penal settlement; Adelaide and Melbourne were free settlements. Before Federation whatever resource we could dig or grow that was in tune with world demand altered the fortunes of the various states and therefore their capitals waxed and waned. Therefore this carry on was to be expected but that was a long time ago.

But now when the going is tough and the deeper fissures are revealed it is a problem. The way out of COVID and any other national problems is to work together, trust each other, support each other and not play favourites and bitch.

But often Australia does not work as a team, often it seems we are as proud of our state as much if not more that our country and yet for all Australians alive today the experiences, be they good or bad, are broadly the same whatever state they are in. This crap can be funny but mostly it wastes money and time and is freaking juvenile. Lets change the story.

4 great Aussie songs mate about borders and states –

Back on the Borderline – Midnight Oil

State of the Heart – Mondo Rock

State I’m In – Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons

Cross the Border – Australia’s finest mullet sorry Icehouse