Australians like people to be rewarded for hard work and talent, but we want everyone to have a fair go. Image: Nebasim.
It’s one of our most prized values. We talk about ourselves as the land of the fair go. But how true is that in 2025?
A while ago, the newly appointed CEO of Community Foundations Australia asked me what really made Australians tick.
He’s Canadian and played field hockey at two Olympics. He thought we’d all be like the Kookaburras, charging down the field with no fear and no brakes. Instead, he was a little puzzled to find a nation of rule followers.
My answer was fundamentally, Australians believe we’re all equal. We like people to be rewarded for hard work and talent, but we want everyone to have a fair go.
We don’t worship the individual, or equate extreme financial success with being a decent human being.
Nobody matters more because of the family they were born into, their job title or the school they attended. The test of leadership in this country is often your willingness to muck in with everyone else and never suggest you’re too important to do the washing up.
In fact, being born with a silver spoon in your mouth becomes a bit of a political handicap for our leaders who are far more inclined to downplay family wealth and education because it wins you no brownie points with ordinary voters.
Malcolm Turnbull frequently pointed out he was raised by a single father despite the Sydney Grammar School education and Point Piper address. Anthony Albanese has made a great deal of political capital out of his Housing Commission childhood.
I’ve always thought this focus on the fair go is particularly true in Canberra, a city founded by people who brought their brains and their energy, rather than their inheritances, to build this new community.
Sagas like the endless Brindabella Christian College epic or the startling CIT scandal get up our noses because the people involved appear to think they’re above the law and beyond the community’s interests.
But when the notion of diversity and inclusion is being challenged and everyone’s favourite criticism is to shriek “woke” at things that scare them, could we be losing touch with the fair go?
I reckon the whole point of diversity is giving talented people a chance to succeed. It’s box ticking when it’s done badly, but missing someone’s talents because they don’t look like you is also a failure.
We shouldn’t choose unqualified or underqualified employees to meet a quota. But nobody should pass over smart, capable people because they challenge your ideas about the right fit for your organisation.
Why would you limit access to all that intellectual capital? Why wouldn’t you want those brains and energy?
We’re all the poorer if we quarantine our talent pool to people who make us feel comfortable. The “woke” excuse is often a lazy reason to stay in our lanes.
This week I interviewed Governor-General Sam Mostyn and Kamilaroi woman Michelle Steele, who is Chief First Nations Officer for the Paul Ramsay Foundation.
There’s a small but growing cohort of Aboriginal women leaders in the APS, like Michelle, or the ACT Supreme Court’s Justice Louise Taylor, who are intellectually brilliant and highly capable. Let’s not pretend these women would have had a magically smooth path to leadership 30 or 40 years ago.
Let’s not pretend that the Canberra-born daughter of an army officer would have become the Governor-General back then either. Giving people opportunities ensures the cream rises to the top.
Conversely, people on the front lines in the charity world will tell you that anyone can fall into poverty, acquire a brain injury, become a victim of crime or give birth to a disabled child. And when that happens, they’ll deserve equity and inclusion too.
Canberra works because we all brought our gifts and talents and built a great community. During the Canberra Day Appeal we’re asking you to give where you live to create a better and fairer Canberra for everyone.
Let’s keep this a place where we look everyone squarely in the eye, no matter who they are, and tell them they deserve – and will get – a fair go.
Genevieve Jacobs is the CEO of Hands Across Canberra.
