Positive pause
AUSTRALIANS are known for valuing friends, loyalty and supporting the underdog.
We generally don’t care where people come from.
Overall, we’re tolerant and peaceful and our communities dig deep to help people in need.
You just have to look locally to see families in need due to illness or tragedy and their local community is rallying around them with offers of support.
There are many great examples and we’ve seen an outpouring of community concern for drought-stricken farmers with the Parma for a Farmer campaign.
I also read that Geelong Port waived the wharfage charges for transportation of hay to assist drought stricken farmers.
It’s great to see the community reaching out and going that extra mile to help people struck by hard times.
We are a community blessed with huge numbers of volunteers at local sporting clubs, community events and events that bring attention to our great city.
So there is plenty of good out there, but unfortunately too often we have to wade through the negative stories to find it.
There seems to be an increase in unashamedly poor behaviour from people that makes you wonder where Australia is heading. In the courts you hear of people apologising for their offence, only to reoffend shortly after. Perhaps that’s to be expected.
Of even more concern is the shortage of leaders modelling upstanding behaviour.
Politicians probably don’t apologise as often as they should and, when they do, you’re left with the sense that they’ve been pressured into it or they’re just being condescending without any intention whatsoever of changing their behaviour.
It’s no surprise public confidence in our political parties has plummeted, with about 15 per cent of our community vaguely trusting any politician.
The current political narrative of constantly airing grievances and acting out revenge plots does not sit well with the community.
It’s resulting in a trend against mainstream political parties, which will no doubt shape the Australia of the future.
I hope this community backlash reignites a new values system among our leaders to be positive, and respectful, and to take responsibility for their actions and help each other out.
Council has also learnt these lessons and I like to think we’ve taken a new direction where we behave in a manner consistent with community expectations.
While we have different points of view, and strong beliefs on a number of community issues, the councillor group debates agendas respectfully and we’re focused on gaining back the trust of the local community.
I was looking into Live Tiles the other day — one of the new exciting digital innovation companies coming to Geelong — and I was struck by their company values: WE’RE decent human beings — we care about people and our world. WE get sh!t done — getting work out the door is more important than endless process discussions. WE create unforgettable experiences — keeping our global family inspired and motivated.
That’s some fundamental and honest statements right there and if all leaders worked on embodying these sentiments, it could only be a good thing for our country.
The community’s clever and creative vision is very straight forward, the people of Geelong overwhelmingly said they want to live in a community that cares for its people. Simple.
The recent R U OK day, reinforces that to be a caring community we need to make an effort to connect with each other and take the time to look out for those that might be struggling.
I hope we don’t just wait for R U OK day to pick up the phone and ask someone the simple “How you going?”. We need to increase our personal connections and be respectful of each other’s differences so we can live more harmoniously.
So before you jump into attack mode and smash the keyboard or belt out the next text, take one short moment to think of the cause and effect of your actions.
Let’s all do our best to make the overwhelming bulk of our actions and communication positive. It might be foreign to some but I guarantee it will make you feel a whole lot better than being negative.