‘Grumpy’ Australia must rekindle its hope

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Australians have never appeared as grumpy or as disillusioned as they do today, according to World Vision Australia chief executive Tim Costello.

Amid a prolonged global financial crisis, plunging consumer confidence, job losses, price rises and a toxic political environment that is hamstrung in responding to the big issues of our day, Mr Costello warns we are losing our sense of optimism. Our hope is gradually fading.

“Australians are renowned for thinking ‘she’ll be right’ but now there is a growing sense that perhaps we can’t assume things will work out for the best. We are losing faith in our institutions, the mining boom is leaving many Australians behind and there is again a ‘fear of others’ permeating our public debate that is reminiscent of Hansonism,” Mr Costello said.

“There is a tendency today to want to pull up the draw bridge, to demonise ‘others’ and ironically we are gripped with a sense of fear and uncertainty that totally contradicts our current economic prosperity.”

Speaking ahead of the launch of his new book, Hope: Moments of inspiration in a challenging world, Mr Costello said Australia must rekindle its hope in the future.

“As head of World Vision Australia, I have travelled to some of the poorest and most desolate places on the planet, and yet I am continually surprised by the hope I find amid the hunger and suffering these people face,” Mr Costello said.

Mr Costello said he was also inspired by the generosity of Australians in giving to overseas aid, especially from poorer Australians who often gave sacrificially because they understood that most of us have so much.

“It is inspiring to me that hundreds of thousands of Australians choose to sponsor a child, to make a regular donation to change another person’s life, to give that person hope and new opportunities. And often it is not the rich that give, it is those with little,” he said.

Mr Costello said our ‘rich’ societies are also in need of help.

“We have a problem, too. In our communities of affluence, there are fragmenting communities along with an epidemic of depression, youth suicide and drug abuse. In poor communities, I will often witness the opposite. I become invigorated as I see connection to extended family and real community, I hear song and dance and respect for land and tribe,” he said.

“It often surprises me to think there is more joy with the poor than in our societies, where we have solved the economic challenge of supply. We can learn from these communities in a relationship of partnership. It is not just one way, nor just charity.”

Hope by Tim Costello (Published by Hardie Grant, RRP $24.95) will be released in Australia on August 1, 2012.

 

Buy your signed copy of Hope at www.worldvision.com.au before August 31stand proceeds will be donated to World Vision projects.

 

Media contact: Chloe Adams - 0427 413 816 / 03 9287 2841

Media Releases, Poverty, Asia and the Pacific, Foreign Aid, Philanthropy, World Vision

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