8/17/2019 Say Yes to Compassion

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 Say ‘Yes’ to Compassion 

‘Yes, we can’ 

– But can we get to ‘yes’? 

Peter Yuile

The slogan from the Obama election campaign

can have some resonance with Australians. We

pride ourselves on being practical and

innovative people who can get things done;

who look after our mates and give others a fair

go. Australians appreciate a ‘can do’ attitude

and we hear about how innovative and creative

we have been over the years – from stump

 jump ploughs to bionic ears; from WiFi to

complex logistics systems to help us negotiate amassive continent with a small population. Yes

we can export a whole array of commodities,

goods and services to every corner of the

globe; and yes, we can put troops on the

ground and join allies in the most difficult

terrains in the world; and yes, Australians can

‘make it’ in the most competitive academic,

business, administrative, cultural, sporting and

technological environments – be they in Asia,

the Sub-continent, Africa, the Middle East,Europe or the Americas.

I am one of those who consider myself lucky to

have been born and raised in this country. I’ve

been proud to work in the Australian Public

Service and be an advocate for Australia. I have

enjoyed the freedoms and opportunities that

Australia has afforded me.

And if I had been born in a less privileged place,

be it in a remote Aboriginal or Torres StraitIsland community or a country deeply affected

by violence or sectarianism or authoritarian

oppression, I dare say that I would have

appreciated the opportunity to make a choice

about staying or going. And if going, I would

have wanted to go to a place in Australia which

offered me the chance for a more positive and

humane future. And I’m sure that I would have

looked to experience a fair go.

 

But the public discourse in our country is not

one dominated by an expansive sense of

freedom and possibility. We may be a

multicultural society, which has enjoyed years

of uninterrupted economic growth; we may

have vast mineral and agricultural wealth; and

an educated population supporting a mature

democracy. But we are weighed down in the

politics of envy, dislocation, and fear of ‘the

other’, of the outsider. We don’t seem to be

able to welcome anyone, much less offer them

a fair go.

How is this to change? We complain about the

quality of political leadership, we point the

finger at a superficial media and a cynical

business community.

Openness, compassion and tolerance are not

signs of weakness but signs of deep strength. I

hope we can find the strength, the spirit, to be

renewed and be able to say Yes - to life, each

other and the outsider. And in the forthcoming

election campaign, we should demand no less

of our political leaders. What a place Australia

could then be.

 

Peter Yuile is an Australia21 Director. He is former Deputy Secretary/Executive Director of the Federal

Departments of Transport and Regional Services; Agriculture and the former Australian Quarantine

and Inspection Service; and Austrade.

But the change has to start with you and with

me - a renewing of our hearts and minds so

that we can see with freedom rather than fear.

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