Vew from the chair: Speeches of Richard WL Austin

The top one percent of Australians now earn as much as the bottom twenty-one percent, whereas a decade or so ago, this figure was only eleven percent. However, we have come to realise, in the last few years, that Australians have been decaying morally. What can we say of: • a society that projects a continuing and widespread picture of malfeasance of one sort or another-politicians, police officers, businessmen, bureaucrats, barristers, doctors, even judges, have all been caught in snares of their own making; - • a society that regards hard labour as more appropriate to a prison sentence than to everyday life; • a society that destroys its rainforests and with them its unique flora and fauna, erodes its soil, pollutes its rivers and mines its beaches; • a society that not only lives far beyond its means, but is content to make no effort to live within them. I hold no special brief for Mr Fraser, the Dr Doolittle of the seventies, but he did leave us with a gross national debt of only $35.7 billion. A decade later, that debt is five times greater, and in order to service the interest alone we have to go on borrowing more and more. Indeed, what can we say of such a societyl A famous trainer was once asked to name the fundamental characteristics of a great racehorse. 'Speed', he answered. 'And after thatl', he was asked. 'More speed: 'And thenl'. 'Still more speed: If an honest and perceptive man-and these qualities do not always go hand in hand-if an honest and perceptive man were asked the same questions about Australian society today, I suggest his answers would be: 'Greed, more greed, and still more greed'. It is an unattractive and sobering picture. Something must be done about it because, if it isn't, we will gradually descend into Avernus; and something can be done about it, because, as Shakespeare said, 'the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves'. Let us start, all of us, young and old alike, by asking not what our country can do for us, but what we can do for our country. We hear a lot these days about rights and privileges, but precious little about duties and responsibilities. Too many are ready to take, too few are prepared to give. Too many have allowed what is sometimes called the eleventh Commandment, 'Thou shalt not be found out', to take precedence over the other ten. It is time for these attitudes to change. In a world which would appear, at least in the short term, to be once again safe from a third global war, it may, thank God, no longer be necessary to die for one's country as many of our forebears have done. There are other ways of serving it and, of these, I suggest to you, the simplest of all is to follow that most cogent and all embracing of the Christian exhortations: 'Do unto others as you would have others do unto you'. In today's world, it is also one of the most pragmatic. 153