Honk If Your An Aussie

I spent the long weekend with my parents at their beach house. I even went to the beach one day and waded out into the water in my grandma-style, green, striped, skirted bathing suit that I bought at Savers. And everyone on the beach had the good grace not to gasp, point or sneer at my irridescent skin or luscious underarm hair growth.

Australia Day was the Saturday and we had no real plans to celebrate this auspicious event but drove in to Rye to see what was happening. Celebrations were afoot there. A childrens entertainer was singing interactive songs for the offspring of the nearby campers, a sign promised there would be fireworks later and a group of thick-necked Meditaranean looking men were engaged in a game of soccer.

There were also a large number of young people (oh god - how old am I, really? But you know who I'm talking about when I say young people, you know, young people, yoof!) getting about with Australian flag paraphernalia; t-shirts, hats, singlets, crop tops, temporary tattoos and of course the traditional flag draped around the neck as cape.

On the road in to Rye there was a bunch of flag-clad young people camped on the side of the road with a cardboard sign reading 'Honk If Your (sic) An Aussie'. I found the whole thing distasteful, not least because of the grammar gaff or the fact that as a nation we should be able to find a better day to celebrate than the day our genocide of the indigenous population commenced, but also because I wonder what particular brand of Aussie-ness these young people are so fervently in support of. I fear it's an Aussie-ness that embraces sport watching, larrikinism, sportiness, a 'she'll be right' attitude, sportsman idolisation, male dominance, anti-intellectualism or at least dismissal of those considered 'up themselves' and sport. This is tar I do not care to be brushed with. Mostly because I greatly enjoy being up myself.

But I do love Australia and some of the fine things about being an Australian. But my love is a cautious, tempered love and not unerring.

I love that we have an elected Prime Minister who is a woman, unmarried and atheist. Yet I was appalled by the party politics that initially led to her appointment and I consider it a great shame that so much political dialogue still revolves around party politics rather than the issues at hand. And while it's great that she's a female and unmarried we should not see this as a sign that women's struggles for equality are over or that we're shifting anywhere away from a heteronormative society.

It was one of the things I waxed lyrical about in the U.S., my prized affordable education. But I'm angered by the cuts to universities, particularly as they are hitting hardest the Arts and Humanities.I need art, literature, history and philosophy to have any understanding of life. You can get a scientist to tell me about the atoms I'm made of, but I'm more interested in the stories that as people we can make.

I also often discussed our brilliant universal health care system with my friends in the U.S. But mental health is one of the areas of our public health system that desperately needs an overhaul. I have received excellent mental health care for one reason only, money. I'm lucky that I have family that support me and can help foot the bill for my private health insurance, psychology appointments, psychiatry appointments and medications. Most people are not as fortunate as I am. Mental illness impoverishes people and then further frustrates them by being expensive and difficult to access. Beds on public wards are hard to come by and many mental health professionals attest that admission to a public mental health ward can actually exacerbate mental health issues due to the environment on the ward.

I feel guilty sometimes that there are people out there suffering from far worse conditions than I but without the supports that I have. It is only because of these supports that I have any chance of living something that resembles a normal and productive life. I really do wish we had a true universal health care system in Australia, that cares for the health of every Australian, not just those lucky to be born like me.