Imagine if Aussies took the nation as seriously as they take sport

Every time around this time, we are reminded of Rugby League great Gus Gould’s “These men are modern gladiators, taking to a field of battle” and “this is Origin!” – all too often to rapturous applause, intense rivalry and competition.

The seriousness of the competition that Origin incites in Australians even echoes through the halls of power in our state capitals, with the losing city required to fly the flag of the victor’s state high above the CBD.

Then we have moments like the Matildas’ performance during the last Women’s World Cup or the simulated clash of nations, ideologies that is the modern Olympics currently underway in Paris which is serving to rally and unite the nation as Australia’s athletes compete with the world’s best.

Contemporary Australian history is littered with similar examples, from the America’s Cup win to the Socceroos making it through to the 2007 FIFA Soccer World Cup, where the “risk free” competition of sport has characterised Australian society as true to the Roman intent of entertaining and controlling the plebeians with “bread and circuses”.

None of this is to disparage the unifying phenomenon sport brings to Australian politics, hell, even our politicians get on board, nor is it an attack on the serious effort, discipline, and sacrifice athletes go through to reach the pinnacle of their respective fields.

No, this is a direct assault on the complacency and flippancy with which Australian society seems to place on our place in the world when they take such unserious forms of competition so seriously.

Now yes, some will say we always step up when it counts and you’re right, 100 per cent right, but with the current state of the world, it mattered yesterday, it mattered last year, and it mattered a decade ago.

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Yet little to nothing has been done to rally and unite the nation when and where it really matters.

Imagine what we could do and what we could be

Many a regular reader will no doubt be familiar with my fondness for Donald Horne’s true intent behind the moniker the “Lucky Country”, popularised by his book of the same name.

For those who aren’t familiar, Horne’s use of the term “Lucky Country” was not the term of endearment it has become and was rather a term of derision for the lackadaisical, complacent, apathetic and general “she’ll be right” attitude with which Australians are internationally famous for and dominates the country’s approach to the world.

As an additional background, Horne said when questioned, “When I invented the phrase in 1964 to describe Australia, I said: ‘Australia is a lucky country run by second-rate people who share its luck.’ I didn’t mean that it had a lot of material resources. I had in mind the idea of Australia as a [British] derived society whose prosperity in the great age of manufacturing came from the luck of its historical origins ... In the lucky style we have never ‘earned’ our democracy. We simply went along with some British habits ... I have had to sit through the most appalling rubbish as successive generations misapplied this phrase.”

With this in mind, imagine what we could do and what we could be if we changed the way we viewed ourselves and we shifted away from the entrancing piper’s song that is contemporary sports culture in Australia.

Maybe, just maybe, we could drought-proof our nation, opening up the immense promise and opportunity of inland Australia. Perhaps we could fully leverage the vast mineral wealth of the nation, with a world-beating industrial base.

Or maybe we could leverage the host of technological advancements developed by Australian businesses, innovators, and scientists who were forced overseas because of the nation’s perennial “tall poppy syndrome”.

Perhaps we could really deliver on the promise of the Australian dream, with a range of high-paying, sustainable job opportunities on the back of our hard work, without compromising the future of generations of unborn Australians and those who have come before us.

Maybe we could cure cancer, solve the problem of fusion energy or even break the laws of physics itself by taking humanity to the stars, and maybe we could take our rightful place in both the world and the Indo-Pacific as a nation of seriousness and consequence without selling our soul for the quick and expedient “sugar hit” solutions to our economic, political, and strategic challenges.

Because as it stands, Australia, despite the lofty rhetoric of our leaders and what the public like to think, is not a serious nor a consequential nation.

But we could be.

Final thoughts

This whole predicament reminds me of the statement made by the Rupert Murdoch-inspired television character Logan Roy, portrayed masterfully by Brian Cox, telling his trust fund brat children Connor, Kendall, Shiv and Roman: “I love you, but you are not serious people.”

It is becoming increasingly clear that Australians, as they currently stand, are happy to take the easy way out and reserve their natural competitiveness, resilience, and appetite for risk to the sporting field, cloaking themselves in performative patriotism to the pseudo-civilisational, national, and cultural competition that defines the undercurrent of contemporary sporting events.

Nor is this a call for Australians to completely discard our “she’ll be right” attitude, rather it is an attempt to inspire balance. We need to take serious matters seriously and light-hearted matters in a light-hearted manner, not pretend we do.

I will leave you with one last question, one I have asked many, many times before: Do Australians want to be competitive, consequential and thriving, or do we want to be “steady and sturdy” in our managed decline?

Get involved with the discussion and let us know your thoughts on Australia’s future role and position in the Indo-Pacific region and what you would like to see from Australia’s political leaders in terms of partisan and bipartisan agenda setting in the comments section below, or get in touch at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..