( I refer to previous articles)

“A house divided against itself cannot stand.” — Abraham Lincoln

A nation, like a house, cannot endure when it is divided by injustice and far-reaching inequality. It is a historical lesson, one that has been repeated across centuries, across continents. And yet, here we are—watching as leaders ignore the warning signs, governing reactively, not proactively, only realizing the truth when it is too late.

Australia has long prided itself on being “the lucky country,” but for an increasing number of its citizens, luck has nothing to do with it. The cost of living surges. Wages stagnate. Home ownership drifts out of reach. An increasing number of people—not just the poor, but the middle class too—live on the edge of financial disaster.

Meanwhile, the truly forgotten, the homeless, sleep under bridges and in doorways, their numbers growing in a nation that once prided itself on fairness. A nation that judges itself by the strength of its economy, but not the dignity of its people.

And still, our government is too slow to act, too reactive, too focused on appearances over substance. When disaster strikes, leadership should rise to meet it. But time and again, we see the opposite.

Take last year’s floods in Queensland, after cyclone Jasper. Schools, inundated over the summer holidays, sat untouched until the last minute. Mould grew unchecked. Makeshift blowers pushed toxic spores through the air. The health risks were obvious—any competent authority should have acted swiftly. Yet the bureaucratic response? A shrug. A deferral to WHO guidelines—guidelines that fail to account for the fact that Australia has the highest mould-related illness rates in the world, especially Far North Queensland.

Contrast this with Broken Hill, where one flooded school was shut down immediately, and a temporary new one was built to protect staff and students. That is leadership. That is what governance should be.

But it is not what we get. Instead, we get empty reassurances, hollow words, and policies that fail to serve the people who need them most.

A History of Poor Decisions, A Pattern of Neglect

This is not new. The failures of governance stretch far beyond a single flood season and it is wait and see as how the aftermath of the current flood disaster in Far North Queensland evolves, – for people like you and me.

Australia has a long history of catastrophic decision-making, particularly when it comes to the long-term wellbeing of its people and environment.

• The Maralinga nuclear tests in the 1950s and ’60s poisoned the land and its people, yet there was no accountability, no genuine attempt at redress. Worse, those same tests damaged the ozone layer—a scientific fact rarely acknowledged. Australia is now the skin cancer capital of the world, but no leader has ever stood before the nation to say, “This was our doing.”

• The willingness to store foreign nuclear waste on Australian soil follows the same pattern—short-term economic gain, long-term disaster. A hundred years from now, when that waste leaks into our land and water, who will take responsibility? Who will answer for a government that traded safety for a quick dollar, trading safety for cash.

• The housing crisis, where real estate is treated as an investment vehicle for the wealthy rather than a fundamental human right. We have more vacant homes than homeless people, yet no government has been bold enough to challenge the status quo.

Australia follows. It does not lead. It followed Britain into Gallipoli, sending soldiers into slaughter, ill-equipped, misled about their mission. It followed the US into Vietnam, into Iraq, into Afghanistan—wars waged for questionable causes, their long-term consequences ignored. The US has a multi trillion budget deficit of $28.9 trillion as per Feb 2025, whilst during the Clinton Administration there was a budget surplus of $2,36 billion in 2000. All the US war’s thereafter impacted the nation’s fiscal health. War eats a country away and the ordinary citizens are suffering.

Australia (!) is a nation still searching for its identity—torn between its Commonwealth ties, its US alliances, and its own independent future.

A Silent Majority, A Frustrated Nation

Ordinary Australians don’t want political games. They don’t want empty slogans. They want stability. They want fairness. They want leaders who actually listen.

The frustration is real. You see it in the growing distrust of politicians. In the apathy at the polls, where people vote because they must, not because they believe in anyone on the ballot.

And yet, there is a quiet movement brewing beneath the surface. A longing for something different. A rejection of the same tired leadership that tests the boundaries of its military spending but never the boundaries of its compassion.

Australia needs a new movement.

Not a party built on ideology, but a movement built on fairness, justice, and action. A movement that doesn’t just talk about change but actually creates it—with policies that prioritize people, not just the economy.

This is not just an Australian challenge. It is a global moment. The world is watching the consequences of poor leadership unfold.

In the US, insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol walk free, while police officers who defended democracy face dismissal. Gaza burns, and the world looks away, silent. In Europe, neo-Nazi movements rise once more, fed by the same economic despair and division that allowed them to take power a century ago.

Australia is not immune. No country is. What happens when voters make decisions in frustration, in desperation? What happens when apathy allows bad governance to continue unchallenged?

Elections have consequences. For better, or for bitter.

The Final Crescendo: A Choice That Defines Us

In the end, the moral arc of the universe only bends toward justice if we pull it there. If we let injustice grow unchecked, if we allow apathy to guide our choices, the future will be written not by those who led with wisdom, but by those who exploited division and despair.

The lesson is clear. Leaders who preserve life in critical moments—who choose fairness over greed, action over complacency—will be remembered in the stars, in the hearts of future generations.

Those who mock it? Who trade morality for power, humanity for profit?

They will be lost in the void.

A nation divided against itself cannot stand. The question now is: Will Australia choose to rise? Or will it fall?

The answer lies with both the voters and leaders. A new generation is waiting.

Paul Alexander Wolf