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Australian Family Party

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Freedom

Hedgehog World

12/03/2022 by Australian Family Party

hedgehog-fox “It is dangerous to make predictions – especially about the future.”
– Danish physicist Niels Bohr

After the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, global experts announced it was ‘the end of history’. Humanity had, they said, reached “not just the passing of a particular period of post-war history, but the end of history as such: that is, the end-point of mankind’s ideological evolution and the adoption of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government”. They wrote books, went on world speaking tours and people like me paid hundreds of dollars to hear them tell us where the world was headed.

They could not have been more wrong if they tried. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine being Exhibit A. China’s threat to Taiwan Exhibit B.

In a previous post I quoted James Surowiecki’s book, ‘The Wisdom of Crowds’, in which the author describes how ordinary people are collectively smarter than so-called experts when it comes to problem-solving, decision-making, innovating, and predicting. The reason why, he explains, is that individual experts are inherently biased. They are part of a club. He says the knowledge and common-sense of ordinary people, however, eliminates bias and produces a clearer and more coherent result.

There’s an old Greek proverb, “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows only one thing.”

As we know, the world isn’t made up of just one thing, it is made up of a whole range of competing factors and trade-offs that are different for different people of different ages living in different places and with different priorities.

Like the ‘crystallised intelligence’ vs ’fluid intelligence’ paradigm. Crystallised intelligence employs experience and wisdom and knows how the world works. Fluid intelligence knows how to study and pass exams. Foxes vs hedgehogs. We’ve all met them.

Being knowledgeable on one subject narrows one’s focus and increases confidence, but it also dismisses dissenting views. This can lead to self-deception. As we’ve seen in Europe, the world is a messy and complex place – and dangerous to predict. There are countless variables and factors. Foxes understand this innately, hedgehogs not so much.

The bottom line is, we have to stop letting hedgehogs run things. Advisers, yes. Leaders, no. They may be fine leading other hedgehogs in a particular field, but the world is not a hospital or a laboratory or a courtroom or a classroom or a police station. We don’t want the country run by epidemiologists and police commissioners.

Next month marks the 110th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. A number of people at the time made statements before the ship set off on its doomed voyage – all of them fatally wrong. Among them was the ship’s captain, Edward J. Smith, who said, “I cannot conceive of any disaster happening to this vessel. Modern shipbuilding has gone way beyond that.” Not to be outdone was Phillip Franklin, vice-president of the White Star Line, the ship’s owner. Prior to the voyage, Franklin said, “This boat is unsinkable.”

After the tragedy, a devastated Franklin regretted his remarks. “I thought she was unsinkable. I based that opinion on the best expert advice.”

The internet has given the world access to the latest information on every subject under the sun. Instantly. Some of it is accurate, some of it is not.

The lesson is, by all means listen to what experts have to say, but then make up your own mind. We can’t let experts dictate what the rest of us can and cannot do – for the simple reason that they are hedgehogs. They are only good at one thing. (Strange, too, that when they take off their hedgehog uniforms and go home, they act more like foxes and don’t always practice what they preached when they were wearing their hedgehog uniforms …. just saying).

Global experts are having to re-think the ‘end of history’ given recent events in Europe and Asia.

National experts are having to re-think responses to climate change – “Even the rain that falls isn’t going to fill our dams and river systems”. Tell that to the people of Queensland and NSW! Billions of dollars have been wasted building desalination plants, and millions more wasted maintaining them.

Our State experts told us we needed to build a road which has all the traffic going one way in the morning and then all the other way in the afternoon.  Needless to say, that didn’t last very long and great expense was incurred re-building the road so that traffic could go both ways all day long.

Bert Kelly made the logical point, “If these experts were as clever as they make out, they wouldn’t be here, they’d be sitting in the South of France with their feet in a bucket of champagne”.

This election, send the hedgehogs a message.

Tell them you’re exhausted from being told what to do all the time – ‘must do this; can’t do that’.

Vote ‘J’ for James (as in James Surowiecki from The Wisdom of Crowds) and get the respect you deserve.

 


Authorized by Bob Day Australian Family Party 17 Beulah Road, Norwood SA 5067

Filed Under: Election '22, Australian Character, Australian Politics, Family Policy, Family Resilience, Freedom, South Australia

SPECIAL ELECTION EDITION!

08/03/2022 by Australian Family Party

J is for …

how-to-voteIn Hebrew it is the “hameat hamachazik et hamerube” – ‘the little that holds a lot’.

It is referring to the 10th letter of the Hebrew alphabet: ‘yud’, the most important of all the letters. The name of God starts with a yud – YHWH – Jehovah in English. It is also the smallest letter in the alphabet – the size of a small comma – and yet every letter in Hebrew contains a yud, because the moment the pen touches the paper, there it is.

In English, yud is the equivalent of our letter ‘J’, which is also the 10th letter of our alphabet. The number 10 is very profound in Scripture. From the first chapter of Genesis in which God creates 10 things – light, sky, land, sea, plants, sun, moon, stars, living creatures and finally humans – to the 10 plagues of Egypt; to the commandment to give a tenth of one’s income (the tithe); to Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year – the 10th day of the 10th month; to Abraham’s 10 tests; and, of course, the 10 Commandments.

At this election, every voter is asked to cast two ballots – one on a small green ballot paper for the House of Assembly (the Lower House) and the other on a very large white ballot paper for the Legislative Council (the Upper House).

The House of Assembly ballot paper is quite straightforward – simply number the candidates (usually around five or six of them) in your order of preference.

The Legislative Council ballot paper however, is not so straightforward.

For a start, it is nearly a metre long and contains 19 registered political parties or groups above the red line and over 50 individual candidates below the red line.

Voters can choose whether to vote above the line or below the line, but not both. Voters can also choose whether to number any amount of boxes above the line – from just one box to all 19 of them. If voting below the line, a voter must number a minimum of 12 boxes.

The Australian Family Party has drawn box J on the white ballot paper. Box No 10. How’s that for divine providence! J for Jehovah, J for Jerusalem, J for Joshua, J for Joseph, J for Joanna, J for Judges and, of course, J for Jesus.

We are recommending voters vote above line and follow our how-to-vote card by placing a 1 in the box marked J, then a 2 in the box marked M for One Nation, and then a 3 in the box marked A for the Liberal Democrats. Both One Nation, led in South Australia by the phenomenal Jennifer Game and the Liberal Democrats’ highly respected leader Kenelm Tonkin have conducted themselves impeccably throughout this election period. Their pro-life, pro-family, pro-freedom stance has been exemplary, and I cannot speak highly enough of both of them.

Click here to view seat by seat how-to-vote cards.

All we need now are a few more V for volunteers to hand out the how-to-vote cards and we’re done.


Authorized by Bob Day Australian Family Party 17 Beulah Road, Norwood SA 5067

Filed Under: Australian Character, Australian Politics, Election '22, Family Policy, Family Resilience, Freedom, South Australia

Till Death Us Do Part

05/03/2022 by Australian Family Party

seesaw-politics-deathThe ancient story is told of a merchant in Baghdad who sent his servant to the market. After a short while the servant came back white and trembling. “Master”, he said, “just now when I was in the market, I was jostled by someone in the crowd, but when I turned, I saw it was death who jostled me. Death looked me in the face and made a threatening gesture toward me and I ran. So please, lend me your horse so I can ride away and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and hide.” The merchant lent him his horse and off he rode as fast as he could. The merchant then went to the market himself and saw death standing in the crowd. “Why did you make a threatening gesture toward my servant when you saw him this morning?” the merchant asked. “That was not a threatening gesture”, death replied, “I was just surprised to see him here in Baghdad as I have an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.”

Politics is the ultimate near-death experience. Especially for political leaders. You can run but you can’t hide.

For major-party leaders, there is always a conga-line of would-be successors just waiting for an opportunity to pounce. Not all are qualified to take on the top job.

I once commented to a political colleague about an over-ambitious politician, “He thinks he’s going to be Prime Minister one day”, I said somewhat uncharitably. “Bob, they all do”, he replied.

So much time and effort are taken up in major parties with this sort of stop-at-nothing ambition. As a result, the welfare of the nation takes a back seat. The public recognizes this and is constantly looking for credible alternatives.

In a recent major analysis of voting trends, The Australian newspaper reported, “Support for minor parties and independents has reached its highest level in four years.”

The time is right.

People see the political seesaw in operation, with one of the major parties permanently Araldited onto one end of the political seesaw and the other major party permanently Araldited on the other. They yearn for a sensible, balance-of-power party to stand in the middle of the seesaw, leaning one way when one of the majors gets out of control and leaning the other way when the other does the same.

Matthew Abraham, who has been covering SA politics for a very long time, last year said he could see no ideological differences between Liberal and Labor. “Steven Marshall is now essentially a Labor premier”, he said. In 2017, Christopher Pyne, leader of the Liberal Party’s left-leaning, progressive faction and mentor to Steven Marshall said the Liberal progressives were winning the internal battle against the Party’s conservatives. “We’re in the winning circle”, he said. Liberal and Labor: two peas in a pod.

Fiercely independent, the aim of the Australian Family Party is to bring out the best and subdue the worst in our political system. To stand on the seesaw and watch and lean.

There is much that can be done – in both social and economic terms – to reduce the pressure on families including income splitting for taxation purposes, subsidies for grandparents who look after grandchildren, putting an end to price-gouging by state governments of water and power costs, and much more.

Power prices, house prices, water prices. Family budgets and family businesses – family farms, family shops, trade contractors, are all under siege. The unbearable cost of energy, regulation and taxation is sending family businesses to the wall.

The Australia we once knew is disappearing before our very eyes.

In 2013, David Flint and Jai Martinkovits wrote a book called, ‘Give Us Back Our Country’. In the nine years since they wrote that book, it is clear we are not getting our country back any time soon. If anything, more of our country and our freedoms have been taken from us. In a recent article Flint no longer called for our country to be ‘given’ back, but rather for us to take it back.

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Australian Character, Australian Politics, Election '22, Family Policy, Freedom, South Australia

Leaders are Readers

26/02/2022 by Australian Family Party

“If you want to get anywhere in life, you have to read a lot of books.” – Roald Dahl

leaders are readersI was fortunate to have not one, but two mentors in my life – Ray Evans and Bert Kelly. Both were iconoclasts – people who challenge the accepted wisdom and sacred cows of their day. Ray and Bert exposed with great effect the myth that government knows what’s best. “Never let the government help you”, was one of Bert’s favourite sayings.

Both Ray (pictured) and Bert were great readers.

Mark Twain said reading, like travel, was ‘fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrowmindedness. Broad, wholesome, charitable views cannot be acquired by vegetating in one’s own world’.

GK Chesterton wrote of ‘telescope people’ and ‘microscope people’ – telescope people who study large objects and live in a small world, and microscope people who study small objects and live in a big world. Think about that for a while.

And Rudyard Kipling who wrote of the importance to society of discipline, courage and valour, and of the dangers of societies becoming luxurious and feeble. As the general courage of a community declines, he wrote, people become timid.

For a nation or society to function properly it needs leaders who are readers.

‘Show me a family of readers, and I will show you the people who move the world’, said Napoléon.

 ‘There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island,’ quipped Walt Disney.

Shortly after World War II, George Orwell published his novel ‘1984’. The story was set in a country ruled by ‘Big Brother’, a supreme dictator in an all-powerful, one-party state. The central character, Winston Smith, whose job it was to re-write the nation’s history books to fit the current narrative of the state, was continually tormented by his task. The department in which he works is called ‘The Ministry of Truth’. Orwell’s novel exposed the true nature of authoritarian governments which cling to power by generating fear, distorting facts and censoring alternative views. For a book published in 1949, his description of surveillance technology to track and trace its citizens is downright spooky – think facial biometric scanning and GPS tracking used by the South Australian government during Covid.

What we learn from books such as ‘1984’ and Orwell’s other great novel Animal Farm, is that there is nothing new under the sun and that lurking in every society are men and women with authoritarian tendencies who are ever ready to ‘generate fear, distort facts, and censor alternative views’.

As well as books like ‘1984’ and Animal Farm which issue dire warnings, there are books which impart knowledge, explain how the world works, record history, and enlighten us about religion, art and sport. And there are, of course, books which simply entertain.

‘Without books’, wrote Ron Manners in his Foreword to the IPA’s 100 Great Books of Liberty, ‘I would not have heard of HL Mencken or his comment about the 1930s Roosevelt New Deal dividing America into “those who work for a living, and those who vote for a living”.’

Top of the list of books that have changed the world, is of course, the Bible. From the story of Nimrod, the world’s first tyrant who was bent on world domination, to life-changing stories of the prodigal son, the good Samaritan, David and Goliath, Daniel and the lions’ den, Moses and the ten commandments, and of course the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. For those seeking hope and inner peace about what is happening in the world, the Bible is the great refuge.

After the Bible, one cannot go past Shakespeare. Hamlet, the Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet, Richard III, and for sheer intrigue and ambition, best of all, Macbeth.

And the number three book that has changed the world has to be Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations and the concept of letting individuals set prices which suit them, rather than ‘markets’ which can get distorted by a perverse range of agendas.

For sheer enjoyment, no bookshelf is complete without a few of Jeffrey Archer’s page-turners. Top of my list of Archer novels is Kane & Abel, followed by A Matter of Honour. Agatha Christie’s crime mysteries, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice are absolute delights.

‘I find television very educational’, said Groucho Marx. ‘Every time someone turns on the TV, I go to another room and read a book.’

Essential other reads include Pilgrim’s Progress; Donald Horne’s The Lucky Country; Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life; How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie; JR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings; Exodus by Leon Uris; great Russian writers Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky – War & Peace and Crime & Punishment. Closer to home, anything by Geoffrey Blainey; Greg Sheridan’s God Is Good For You; founder of the China Inland Mission Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret; two of Malcolm Gladwell’s books, Blink and Outliers; John Maxwell’s books on Leadership; Frank Furedi’s book How Fear Works and Bob Buford’s books on Half Time.

…. and Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy.

If you would like to help with the coming election, please make a donation here.

Filed Under: Australian Character, Australian Politics, Election '22, Freedom, South Australia

First They Ignore You …

19/02/2022 by Australian Family Party

“First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you … then you win” – Mahatma Gandhi

Goldie Mabovitch was just eight years old when her family emigrated to the United States from Ukraine. Her father emigrated first and found work in a Milwaukee rail yard. A year later, his family joined him. A bright child, by the age of ten Goldie was working part-time in a grocery store while attending the local primary school. Immigrant families did it tough in those days. Immigrant families do it tough in these days.

But Goldie ignored the immigrant jokes and slurs and persevered. She studied hard, became active in her community, fought for the underprivileged, and got involved. At first they ignored her, then they ridiculed her, … well, you know the rest.

And then the First World War broke out, making life even harder for the Mabovitch family. But Goldie pressed on believing she was destined for bigger things.

Which she was. She got married and the couple moved to Israel. She changed her name and got involved in politics. She was of course, Golda Meir, Prime Minister of Israel.

The leader of India’s independence movement Mahatma Gandhi’s famous words, “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you … then you win” are as relevant today as they were when they were first spoken over 80 years ago.

The Bible says, ‘Do not despise these small beginnings’ (Zech 4:10).

My first foray into politics was somewhat of a mixed bag. But as the old Russian proverb goes, “Perviy Blin Komon – the first pancake is always lumpy.”  You’re not always going to get it right the first time. As we know, we learn more from our mistakes than we do from our successes. Trials do serve their purpose. It’s the same with minor party candidates and independents. As time passes the calibre of those on the crossbench – ie, those who are neither government nor opposition – improves. Importantly, the people continue to have faith in independents and minor parties – as both an alternative to, and a protest against, the major parties.

One often hears people harking back to the good old days under John Howard. But 2022 is not 2002.  You can’t pour new wine into old wine skins.  The country is developing new wine skins.

The internet is driving the biggest change to society since the industrial revolution drew people from the land to the city.  Institutions in business, politics, education, media and entertainment are being marginalised, sidelined and even eliminated.  As TV transformed the world by allowing us to see what was happening in the world, the internet has completed the transformation by allowing us to connect with the rest of the world.

It’s called disruption. Disruptive sharing technology like Airbnb and Uber have disrupted the hotel and taxi industries. Spotify has disrupted the music industry. Netflix the film industry.

Politicians and their advisers don’t know what to do about all this disruption.  The pace of change is outstripping their ability to manage or regulate it.  They simply do not have the skills or experience to make the decisions necessary in today’s world. The truth is, they don’t know what they don’t know.

I was only in parliament five minutes (two and a half years to be precise) but as the old Polish proverb goes, “The guest sees in five minutes what the host doesn’t see in a lifetime”. I saw it all firsthand – up close and personal!

Over the past few decades, major political parties around the world have become top-down production-line party machines – or rather, ‘factories’ – churning out party apparatchiks and career staffers who become Members of Parliament.

Many of them have never had a proper job.  They go to university, get a job working for a politician or a union and then become politicians themselves. They know how politics works but they don’t know how the world works. They suffer from what’s called the ‘Dunning-Kruger effect’, a cognitive bias where people with limited general knowledge or competence greatly overestimate their own ability. The results are there for all to see.

But voters aren’t stupid. They know when they’re being patronised or taken for a ride, and they are responding by voting for someone else.

And that someone else is us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Australian Character, Australian Politics, Family Policy, Family Resilience, Freedom, South Australia

The Wisdom of Crowds

12/02/2022 by Australian Family Party

tree-and-axeThe story is told of a forest that was continually shrinking – but the trees kept voting for the axe. The axe, you see, was very clever; it was able to convince the trees that because its handle was made of wood, it was one of them.

In a recent major analysis of voting trends, the Australian newspaper reported, “Support for minor parties and independents has reached its highest level in four years.”

The corollary of that of course is ‘support for major parties is at its lowest level in four years!’

Australia has economic and social problems that it wants to solve – employment uncertainty, high mortgages (which force both parents out to work), high cost of educating and raising children, high power prices, high water prices, social ills caused by the rupturing of family relationships, addiction to alcohol, gambling, drugs and pornography, and suicide. Our politicians however, do not appear to be able to solve these. Watching Question Time should give us some clue as to why not.

As William F. Buckley once said, “We’d be better governed by the first 100 people in the phone book than by the stereotype politicians we are asked to vote for today.”

Hence the rise of minor parties and independents.

In his excellent book, ‘The Wisdom of Crowds’, author James Surowiecki describes how large groups of ordinary people are collectively smarter than so-called experts when it comes to problem-solving, decision-making, innovating, and predicting. The reason why, he explains, is that individual ‘experts’ are inherently biased. They are part of a club, whereas the knowledge and common-sense of the ‘crowd’ eliminates the bias and produces a clearer and more coherent result.

Take one example. The Australia Council gives taxpayer-funded grants to the arts. Dr Bella d’Abrera, Director of the Foundations of Western Civilisation Program at the Institute of Public Affairs, has brought to our attention a couple of these grants. One was an $80,000 grant to a cabaret singer whose performance involved writing abuse about Prime Minister Scott Morrison on her naked bottom. The other $80,000 grant was to a ‘poet’ who argues that ‘bowel movements are perhaps innately connected to the art of creative writing’. If this is what passes for art, then we’re in trouble. The real problem however, is that our hard-earned money is being used to pay for it. As John Roskam from the Institute says, “Don’t force me to pay for this sort of thing when there’s real suffering and real pain being experienced by business owners who are losing their businesses, their marriages, and their families because they have been shut down. There are a million better ways for the government to spend $160,000 – like for example mental health services for children who have been locked up for two years. That’s how I feel and that’s how a lot of Australians feel”.

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Which is where the Australian Family Party’s authentic, local candidates come to the fore. Our candidates understand their local communities – their crowd. They are part of the wisdom of their crowds. Which makes them far better representatives than the major-party nominees who go along with all that Australia Council nonsense as they work their way up the party ladder.

At this forthcoming State election, our candidates need to replace these major-party apparatchiks. But they need your support – by word-of-mouth, by volunteering on election day to give out their how-vote-cards and of course, financial support to pay for the how-to-vote cards. If you would like to help them, please make a donation here.

We have a great team of candidates, let’s get behind them. Otherwise, there’ll be nothing left of the forest we call Australia.

Filed Under: Australian Character, Australian Politics, Election '22, Family Policy, Family Resilience, Freedom, South Australia

Dances With Wolves

05/02/2022 by Australian Family Party

wolvesSome time ago a friend of mine wandered into a tattoo shop in Sydney.  As you’d expect, on the walls were all manner of tattoos – animals, cars, people and of course a whole range of  words and slogans. One slogan in particular caught his eye.  It said, “BORN TO LOSE.”

My friend asked the tattooist, “Does anyone ever ask for that tattoo there, ‘BORN TO LOSE’?”  “Yes, sometimes,” said the tattooist.

“Why on earth would anyone want ‘BORN TO LOSE’ tattooed on their body?”  my friend asked.

The tattooist replied, “I only tattoo on their body what’s already tattooed on their mind.”

The Roman Stoic philosopher Lucius Seneca warned his critics, “Throw me to the wolves, and I will return leading the pack”.

Such contrasting outlooks on life.

Let’s ask ourselves this question, ‘what are we tattooing on impressionable young minds?’

Stoicism? Or surrender? Resilience? Or resignation?

Author Os Guiness once said, “It’s not the wolves at the door that’s the problem, it’s the termites in the floor.”  It’s not the external threats on our borders, it’s the rot within.

My first job after leaving school was with the South Australian State Government. I was there about six years, and I must confess the public sector didn’t suit me all that well.  I remember a guy there called Nigel who was very unhappy in his job and would complain almost daily.  It used to drive me nuts. So, one day I plucked up the courage and said to him, “Nigel, you’re obviously not happy working here, why don’t you leave and do something else?”  He replied, “What’s the point? I’m going to be retired in 17 years.”

On a remote dirt road in the northwest territories of Canada there’s a large sign which says, “Be careful which rut you choose – you’ll be in it for the next 50 miles”.  We often hear people say that their lives are in a rut. Like the old farmer out in the paddock holding a piece of rope and scratching his head, not sure whether he’s lost a cow or found a rope.  Or the cat that sat on the hot stove. If a cat sits on a hot stove, what can you be sure of? – He’ll never sit on a hot stove again. But then he’ll never sit on a cold one either. He’s ‘overlearned’ from his experience. Nigel was all those things.

As we know, it’s not what you’re good at in school that matters but what you’re good at in life.

Let’s teach our young people to be ‘better at life’. To let them know that through trials and difficulties we discover the treasure.

And where best to teach this? In the home, in the family.

Filed Under: Australian Character, Australian Politics, Election '22, Family Policy, Family Resilience, Freedom

Two People, Two Stories, One Message

22/01/2022 by Australian Family Party

candleStory Number One

Dr Williams had devoted his life to helping the poor and the underprivileged. He lived above an Op-Shop in a run-down part of town and had placed a sign in front of the shop which read:

“Dr Williams Is Upstairs”

When Dr Williams died, he had no relatives and left no money for his funeral as he had never asked for payment from any of the patients he had treated.

So a few of his patients and a small group of friends got together and scraped up enough money for a funeral for the good doctor.

They didn’t however have enough money to buy a headstone.

This was a concern as they feared his grave would remain unmarked – until one of them came up with a bright idea. They took the sign from in front of the Op-Shop and nailed it to a post above his grave. It made for a lovely epitaph:

dr-williams

Story Number Two

Not long before she died, a journalist conducted an interview with Mother Teresa.

“Mother Teresa”, the journalist asked, “I understand you spend a lot of time praying to God.”

“Yes, I do”, replied the famous nun.

“So, what do you say to God when you pray?” asked the journo.

“I don’t say anything”, replied Mother Teresa, “I just listen”.

“Oh, I see”, said the journalist, “so what does God say to you?”

“He doesn’t say anything”, replied Mother Teresa, “He just listens”.

A little light dispels a great darkness.

Filed Under: Election '22, Family Policy, Freedom, Launch, Prayer

The Three Russians

15/01/2022 by Australian Family Party

three-russiansIt’s time to bring the famous Russian brothers to Australia. We desperately need to apply them to legislation, to politicians and to Australia’s citizens. The three Russians are Morov, Lessov and Ridov – what should we have ‘more of’, what should we have ‘less of’ and what should we get ‘rid of’!

Let’s start with some personal character traits applicable both to politicians and citizens alike:

Morov: Respect, courtesy, courage. Honesty, humility, tolerance. Generosity, discernment, common sense. Marriage, children, adoption and income-splitting for stay-at-home parents. More pro-family policy. More recognition of Australia’s Judeo-Christian heritage. More patriotism and support for our armed forces. More self-reliance and personal responsibility. More freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of religion. More doctor-training, palliative care, affordable housing, support for grandparents. More roads, ports, reservoirs, independent schools. More property rights, small businesses, and funding the ‘user’ of services such as aged care, child care, disability care, energy, housing, superannuation, pharmaceuticals, education and public transport – instead of the ‘provider’ of those services.

Lessov: Gambling ads, alcohol consumption, poker machines, tax. Divorce, suicide, loneliness, fatherless households, crime, prostitution. Less hubris. Less abrogating responsibility to un-elected bureaucrats and the duplication of Federal and State functions – health and education in particular. Less rules that apply to some but not to others. Less government spending and fewer international treaties. And less factional politics, social media and government surveillance.

Ridov: Fearmongering and the weaponization of issues such as climate and covid. Price-gouging and profiteering from climate and covid. Wastefulness, hypocrisy, double standards. Barriers to home ownership and the distortion of Australia’s history. Pornography, abortion and euthanasia. And let’s be rid of vaccine mandates, vaccine passports, social distancing, masks, perspex screens, lockdowns, dobbing in your neighbours, discrimination based on medical status, QR codes and the testing and quarantining of healthy people.

Of all the above however, the worst is fearmongering. What politicians, health officials and the mainstream media have done to this country over the past two years is unforgivable.

Australians were a united, fun-loving, irreverent, tough-minded, down-to-earth people. Now look at us.

In his book ‘How Fear Works’, Frank Furedi writes: “The most effective way to counter the perspective of fear is with values that offer people the meaning and hope they need to effectively engage with uncertainty. The problem is not fear as such but society’s difficulty in cultivating values that can guide it to manage uncertainty and the threats it faces.”

UK Bishop N.T. (Tom) Wright commented in similar terms: “Do you know what the most frequent command in the Bible is? What instruction is given, again and again, by God, by angels, by Jesus, by prophets and by the apostles? Is it ‘be good’? ‘Is it be holy’? Is it ‘don’t sin’? No, the most frequent command in the Bible is, ‘Don’t be afraid’.”

We want our lives back. We want politicians and bureaucrats to stop watching us and to get off our backs and out of our pockets.

Perhaps 16th Century Swedish Statesman Axel Oxenstierna put it best when he said, “Behold my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed.”

Filed Under: Australian Character, Australian Politics, Covid, Election '22, Family Policy, Freedom

‘Beware of Beginnings …’

27/11/2021 by Australian Family Party

pharoah-moses-beginningsIn his brilliant new book, ‘The Magna Carta of Humanity’, Os Guinness writes, “The great paradox of freedom is that the greatest enemy of freedom is freedom itself. Freedom cannot keep itself alive. It requires responsibility, which can be burdensome. People become complacent, self-satisfied, self-congratulatory. It is the beginning of the end.”

Freedom is a two-edged sword. People need to be free – “… life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness …” and all that jazz – but as Winston Churchill said, “Freedom also gives the enemies of democracy the freedom to undermine it”.

The Late Rabbi Sacks wrote:

“Those who are naïve about human nature find themselves disappointed again and again.

“Revolutions, protests and civil wars still take place because people think that removing a tyrant or having a democratic election will end corruption, create freedom and lead to justice and the rule of law – and still people are surprised and disappointed when it does not happen. All that happens is a change of faces in the corridors of power.”

After the French Revolution, Napoleon was more dictatorial than Louis XVI. After the Russian Revolution, Stalin was far more brutal than the Czar, and after the Cultural Revolution, Chairman Mao was more autocratic and murderous than any of the Emperors of the Chinese dynasties.

Each of these tyrants – Napoleon, Stalin and Mao – as well as fomenting anti-sovereign hatred – held a deep hostility towards God:

“We will never be free until we strangle the last king with the guts of the last priest.” – Diderot.

What the people who supported these tyrants naïvely overlooked was the inability of human beings to prevent the abuse of power and position once it has been attained.

Even democratically governments, acting ‘on behalf of the majority’, do not have the right to do whatever they want to a minority or to an individual. The ‘majority rules’ principle cannot be used to create a society of 1st and 2nd class citizens. Society cannot function like that.

Take the case of the vaccinated vs the unvaccinated. Even though they might be a majority, the vaccinated need to understand that the unvaccinated will not allow themselves to be bullied or oppressed. It is a mistake made by majorities and dictators since the days of Pharoah and Moses. If you oppress minorities beyond a certain point – and we are getting very close to that point – they will retaliate. And history shows that even though they may be outnumbered, the minority usually wins.

If they haven’t studied history themselves, one would hope our parliamentarians have employed enough graduates from places like the ‘Institute for Public Policy and Governance’ to advise them of these things.

But the real threat to our country is not the virus or the vaccinated or the unvaccinated, it is the authoritarian takeover of every aspect of our lives by those in power. We are witnessing the beginning of a new authoritarian bureaucracy. And we know where that leads – a surveillance state.

   “Know everything in order to control everyone.” – Adam Weishaupt (1786)

If the vaccine is all it is cracked up to be, those who are vaccinated have nothing to fear from those who are not vaccinated. Excluding the unvaccinated from every aspect of life from air travel to employment to sporting events, will not end well.

For a start, thousands of people have valid medical reasons why they can’t have the vaccine. Many of them have medical certificates signed by their doctors and yet are still being excluded.

The Australian Constitution (Part 5, Section 51 Clause 23A) expressly forbids any form of ‘civil conscription’ with respect to “the provision of … pharmaceutical and medical services”. In other words, no compulsory vaccinations!

Constitutions are written expressly to contain the limits of government power in order to protect the rights of minorities and individuals.

We need to be very careful over these next few months.

As my late father used to say, “Beware of beginnings …”

Filed Under: Family Policy, Freedom

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