farmdoc's blog post number 646

Yahoo Answers! I’ve belittled it [1]. But when I sought the provenance of the aphorism ‘The more things change the more they stay the same’, Yahoo Answers! offered the best account [2]. (Its origin is French, dating from the nineteenth century.) Why did I search for it? Because Farmdoc’s Blog’s 2009 Australia Day post [3] is just as applicable today. If not more so. I continue to feel blessed I live in a free and democratic nation. But simultaneously I’m ashamed of its weak-kneed approach to the mankind’s greatest problem – due to its subservience to Big Business and especially the coal industry. Fie! The 2009 Australian of the Year – Mick Dodson – was well known, a celebrity even, but at least not a sportsman or entertainer. Which is a step in the right direction. His 2010 successor – 57-year-old Professor Patrick McGorry (pictured) – was, until his appointment last evening, not even well known. Which is a further step in the right direction. From Victoria, he’s a youth psychologist and an advocate for mentally ill young people [4]. I’m 110% in favour of his appointment. Talking of numbers, he was clear favourite to win, with betting agency Centrebet rating his odds at $1.36 – well ahead of his nearest rival at $3, with the third favourite a distant $9 [5]. This year’s the 50th anniversary of the first Australian of the Year [6]. Unless major global warming abatement happens soon, there mightn’t be an Australian of the Year in 2060. Ho hum.

farmdoc's blog post number 281

Today is Australia Day. Veteran aboriginal activist and lawyer Mick Dodson is the 2009 Australian of the Year. That’s good. At least he’s not a sportsman or an entertainer. Peter Cundall was a finalist, but he was never going to win because he’s vocally opposed to Gunns’ Tasmanian pulp mill. As I expected, Prime Minister Rudd’s Australia Day speech was dispassionate, measured and boring. (I feel ashamed I voted for him.) Oh for an Aussie Obama. Today 536 Australians received national recognition awards – most for services to the Labor Party and the government, or for doing the jobs they’re paid to do. And, naturally, women were under-represented. On this national public holiday, my countrymen may have flown the occasional Australian flag, but certainly we barbecued and alcoholised, watched tennis and cricket either there or electronically, and generally acted like the yobbos and yahoos we are. Sweetheart Vivienne, my moral compass, often marvels at how lucky we were to have been born in Australia compared with say Nigeria, Sudan, Iran, or anywhere else which is not blessed with our democratic political system, freedom, natural resources, prosperity and climate. And, as usual, she’s right. So today I didn’t attend any Australia Day events, I didn’t listen to any speeches, and I didn’t watch any sport. But I did reflect on how blessed I am, that I’m a citizen of this nation.