Governments can't create community spirit, but they can support inclusion
Assisting people into work, making cities that are well designed, and
supporting non-government groups and volunteers: that’s what
Australians expect from their governments
‘A good way to get people to become full participants in what life has
to offer – including the dignity of work – is to help them engage with
their local communities.’ Photograph: flickr
“Just because you’re better than me, doesn’t mean I’m lazy.” So sang a
young Billy Bragg in his song, To Have and To Have Not, in 1983.
The context of the emergence of progressive artists such as Billy
Bragg was a potent reaction to the British government of Margaret
Thatcher.
A few years after Bragg’s song, Thatcher famously declared “there is
no such thing as society”, as she sought to ideologically justify
policies that left people to fend for themselves.
Implicit in Thatcher’s bleak worldview was the idea that if you were
disadvantaged, it was your own fault. That’s heartless and absurd.
Ignoring or marginalising people who are disadvantaged, or even
dysfunctional, will do nothing to improve their circumstances.
Indeed,
a good way to get people to become full participants in what life has
to offer – including the dignity of work – is to help them engage with
their local communities.
However, I fear that this trend toward pushing people down rather
than lifting them up will escalate in coming months with the appointment
of Scott Morrison as minister for social services.
Assisting people into work is a common objective because we have all
seen the harm welfare dependence can lead to. But the hidden message in
Morrison’s appointment is that he is about to be unleashed on people who
allegedly refuse to work.
Newspapers have been briefed to expect “welfare reform” under
Morrison. Columnists and editors are already using terms like bludgers
and rorters.
In the lead-up to Christmas, the Abbott government has announced
funding cuts to non-government organisations like Shelter Australia,
Blind Citizens Australia, Deaf Australia and Down Syndrome Australia.
Such groups play a vital role in supporting communities. And their success is usually driven in part by community volunteers.
Although there are those in the Abbott government who subscribe to
Thatcher’s doctrine, we’d do well to remind ourselves that it is
completely inconsistent with Australian values.
The values of mainstream Australian are on display right outside your
door right now – out in parks, pubs and churches where people are
coming together to celebrate Christmas.
In
the real world, far away from our nation’s parliaments and tabloid
hotheads, people are giving each other a fair go. They are dropping in
presents to their neighbours. My family looks forward to our next door
neighbour’s annual gift of a homemade ginger bread house.
Right now, people are rejoicing in what unites them. They are
encouraging each other, not blaming each other. They are embracing their
common humanity and trying to develop human interactions in ways that
enrich their lives.
Instead of setting people against each other, governments would achieve more if they did more to nurture communities.
Governments can’t create a community spirit. They can’t make people
be tolerant of each other, except through the personal example of
political leaders. But one thing they can do is deliver a physical
environment that promotes community engagement.
Promotion of inclusion through support of communities is one of the
drivers of federal Labor’s determination to develop comprehensive
policies on our cities. For too long, Australian governments have shown
inadequate interest in urban policy and the way in which well-designed
cities facilitate the human contact that people crave and which enriches
their lives.
We spend so much time designing our buildings that we give inadequate
thought to the spaces between those structures. If properly designed,
these spaces can provide focal points for local communities that
encourage interaction and inclusion.
It might be as simple as providing more shade around buildings and
more parks in our neighbourhoods. Greater use of mixed precincts that
include residential and public or entertainment space would also help
bring people together.
We need more parks, public areas and entertainment options that
deliver the environment in which communities flourish. We need
well-resourced libraries where people can come together to share
interests.
And we need to do all we can to ensure that hubs where people cross
paths most often – like shopping centres and train stations – also
include places where people can interact.
Some dismiss such ideas as not the province of the Commonwealth.
There is a role for commonwealth leadership to assist state and local
government as well as non-government organisations, to make our cities
more productive, sustainable and liveable.
When governments don’t value communities and when they treat people
as little more than economic units, people become alienated. Of course,
better urban design of itself won’t stop welfare dependence. Governments
should seek to encourage people into the workforce by providing
adequate resources for education and training and by eliminating welfare
fraud.
But better urban design will certainly help more than treating welfare recipients like cannon fodder in the political debate.
Thatcher was simply wrong when she said there was no such thing as society.
It’s right outside our door and we are all part of it. If we make our
communities work in positive ways, their power far exceeds that of the
sum of their component parts and can be used to achieve great social
outcomes.
But first we need to reject the idea that anyone on welfare has given
up and does not want to work. As Billy Bragg sang more than 30 years
ago, “Just because you’re going forward, doesn’t mean I’m going
backwards.”
young Billy Bragg in his song, To Have and To Have Not, in 1983.
The context of the emergence of progressive artists such as Billy
Bragg was a potent reaction to the British government of Margaret
Thatcher.
A few years after Bragg’s song, Thatcher famously declared “there is
no such thing as society”, as she sought to ideologically justify
policies that left people to fend for themselves.
Implicit in Thatcher’s bleak worldview was the idea that if you were
disadvantaged, it was your own fault. That’s heartless and absurd.
Ignoring or marginalising people who are disadvantaged, or even
dysfunctional, will do nothing to improve their circumstances.
Indeed,
a good way to get people to become full participants in what life has
to offer – including the dignity of work – is to help them engage with
their local communities.
However, I fear that this trend toward pushing people down rather
than lifting them up will escalate in coming months with the appointment
of Scott Morrison as minister for social services.
Assisting people into work is a common objective because we have all
seen the harm welfare dependence can lead to. But the hidden message in
Morrison’s appointment is that he is about to be unleashed on people who
allegedly refuse to work.
Newspapers have been briefed to expect “welfare reform” under
Morrison. Columnists and editors are already using terms like bludgers
and rorters.
In the lead-up to Christmas, the Abbott government has announced
funding cuts to non-government organisations like Shelter Australia,
Blind Citizens Australia, Deaf Australia and Down Syndrome Australia.
Such groups play a vital role in supporting communities. And their success is usually driven in part by community volunteers.
Although there are those in the Abbott government who subscribe to
Thatcher’s doctrine, we’d do well to remind ourselves that it is
completely inconsistent with Australian values.
The values of mainstream Australian are on display right outside your
door right now – out in parks, pubs and churches where people are
coming together to celebrate Christmas.
In
the real world, far away from our nation’s parliaments and tabloid
hotheads, people are giving each other a fair go. They are dropping in
presents to their neighbours. My family looks forward to our next door
neighbour’s annual gift of a homemade ginger bread house.
Right now, people are rejoicing in what unites them. They are
encouraging each other, not blaming each other. They are embracing their
common humanity and trying to develop human interactions in ways that
enrich their lives.
Instead of setting people against each other, governments would achieve more if they did more to nurture communities.
Governments can’t create a community spirit. They can’t make people
be tolerant of each other, except through the personal example of
political leaders. But one thing they can do is deliver a physical
environment that promotes community engagement.
Promotion of inclusion through support of communities is one of the
drivers of federal Labor’s determination to develop comprehensive
policies on our cities. For too long, Australian governments have shown
inadequate interest in urban policy and the way in which well-designed
cities facilitate the human contact that people crave and which enriches
their lives.
We spend so much time designing our buildings that we give inadequate
thought to the spaces between those structures. If properly designed,
these spaces can provide focal points for local communities that
encourage interaction and inclusion.
It might be as simple as providing more shade around buildings and
more parks in our neighbourhoods. Greater use of mixed precincts that
include residential and public or entertainment space would also help
bring people together.
We need more parks, public areas and entertainment options that
deliver the environment in which communities flourish. We need
well-resourced libraries where people can come together to share
interests.
And we need to do all we can to ensure that hubs where people cross
paths most often – like shopping centres and train stations – also
include places where people can interact.
Some dismiss such ideas as not the province of the Commonwealth.
There is a role for commonwealth leadership to assist state and local
government as well as non-government organisations, to make our cities
more productive, sustainable and liveable.
When governments don’t value communities and when they treat people
as little more than economic units, people become alienated. Of course,
better urban design of itself won’t stop welfare dependence. Governments
should seek to encourage people into the workforce by providing
adequate resources for education and training and by eliminating welfare
fraud.
But better urban design will certainly help more than treating welfare recipients like cannon fodder in the political debate.
Thatcher was simply wrong when she said there was no such thing as society.
It’s right outside our door and we are all part of it. If we make our
communities work in positive ways, their power far exceeds that of the
sum of their component parts and can be used to achieve great social
outcomes.
But first we need to reject the idea that anyone on welfare has given
up and does not want to work. As Billy Bragg sang more than 30 years
ago, “Just because you’re going forward, doesn’t mean I’m going
backwards.”
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