In a time of global instability and mounting crises, Australia is being led by an unserious leadership class across politics, business and beyond.

Our times are serious. However, at leadership levels across Australia – in politics, business, the media, entertainment, sport, in the legal and medical professions, and in academe – the country is being led by unserious people.

 The seriousness of our times cannot be overstated. The fragile arrangements of the post-War world order have fallen apart and there are no king’s men (whether in the White House or anywhere else) who can put it together again. The hands of the Doomsday Clock are closer to midnight than at any time. Wars affecting the entire globe are being fought in Gaza and the West Bank, in Ukraine, Africa, and in the Middle East.

Increasing numbers of deprived people everywhere are reacting angrily, violently, irrationally, to their absolute (not relative) deprivations which include unjustly restricted access to meaningful work, exclusion from proper education and training programs, a serious lack of decent housing, inaccessible medical and mental health services, as well as not being given due recognition of their legal rights and dignity as human persons. They have no other choice than to be angry. No one at the top is listening to them.

Breakdowns in essential infrastructure across overcrowded cities are synchronous with increases in crime, social disharmony and conflict. Public and private spaces in our cities have become jungles of graffiti which few know how to read. Meanwhile the ravages of climate change are increasing everywhere – floods, fires, droughts, environmental devastation, dying rivers, encroaching deserts, polluted air, fouled seas.

Where........

© Pearls and Irritations