Why Australia needs 'dad lessons' - podcast episode cover

Why Australia needs 'dad lessons'

Jun 04, 202521 min
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Episode description

This is my take on the last week in the news: Loyalty is eroding in all areas of society, world is on a war footing, Australia needs to pay attention to China and our dads need lessons in parenting. 

Tell me what you think:

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Transcript

Speaker 1

Nine Podcasts.

Speaker 2

Hello, this is Neil Mitchell. This is what I think. My weekly podcast of editor of Opinions, which sits with my weekly podcasts of interviews. That's each Tuesday, Neil Mitchell asks why, and each Thursday we post my views of the world. This week, Fatherhood, loyalty, World War III is a trifecta for you and a bit more. I also want your comments on the issues in your life that the world is perhaps ignoring Neil dot Mitchell at nine

dot com dot au or any comments at all. First, very gradually, a huge change is unfolding behind the scenes in our world and our lives. Loyalty is dead. It's not just dying. Loyalty is dead. It was once considered a great human attribute, along with honesty and modesty and empathy. Not Now, loyalty is gone. If you're loyal, you're viewed as a bit of a mug, anachronistic at the best. Now I've done one of my one man research efforts on the millennials and gen Z workers in my orbit.

To a person they said they had absolutely no loyalty to their employer. To a person they said they would change jobs, walk out the door at a moment's notice. If something better came along for them. As a big change, Boomers may well be the last generation that has loyalty to the company. Now isn't just about the availability of work, it's an attitude behind the change. These generations seem to have grown with the belief the boss will only screw you.

Perhaps they're right. Individual managers might be okay and decent employers, but in the end, these people argue, the further you go up the tree with the boss, the less they are likely to show loyalty. Several of those I surveyed said to me, they'll dump me at a moment if I'm of no use to them or less use, So why should I be loyal to them? Now? You must ask, though, if loyalty disappears in the workplace, does it become tarnished elsewhere?

Is the loyalty still in marriages or relationships? Is the loyalty to family or friends? If loyalty is discarded as an attribute at one level, it could be discarded at others. Now, I agree loyalty should be earned. That's fair enough, but it can also be an expectation, and a reasonable one. Nowadays, there's more likely to be a debate about the right to disconnect and the payment of overtime. I can see why I find a bit sad. There are also political

implications to this. Emerging generations are far less likely to show political loyalty to one party. There'll be a mass of swinging voters out there waiting to be seduced at each election. It's already happening. Of course, the damn politicians haven't helped. Politicians have always changed teams, usually with a large dose of self interest. After this election, the recent election, just days after being re elected as a National Party representative,

Senator Jacinta Price changed to Liberals. She wanted to be deputy leader, missed out, so she changed now or missed out with the Liberals, now a Green senator. During the Cox has gone from Green's to Labor. She was also burnt in a leadership ballot, and her ex mates are leaking against her. Somebody has leaked a private text from Senator Cox saying Pauline Hansen was quote and effing retard and effing retard unquote very nice, but not much loyalty

from the person who received it. Now, all this has happened before. Jackie Lamby went from Clive Palmer's party to her own, but having two within days of being elected, in my view, that should be it. They're not electors individuals, particularly in the Senate, I reckon they change party, that should be it. Out of the Parliament, have a new by election or in the Senator new appointment. No mucking around. You show that sort of disloyalty. You change parties. I

think you're effectively donning the public. Whatever the reason, good night, sunshine. Footballers have got very little loyalty. NRL and AFL players jump around clubs for a dollar, and who can blame them? Some even play with one after apparently agreeing to go to another, and the next season the kids have to change the numbers on their guernseys because they see their hero suddenly wearing different colors. Elon Musk is no longer loyal to his buddy Donald Trump, though perhaps you can

see why. In the supermarket brand loyalty seems to have been eroded. Price and quality more important now again, fair enough, but it's a trend, the shop around strategies building. That's a positive, but e roading loyalty in all areas of society erodes. Trust. Without trust, we undermine the way we live. In fact, think about it, the only place loyalty really survives is amongst supporters of particular sporting clubs. They will follow teams for sixty years which have never had a premiership,

never had the ultimate success. I know I did it. I still do. Am I stupid or loyal? I was hoping this work. I could report that our Prime minister was awake, he was over his election hangover. But he isn't. He's still asleep, apparently willing to commit to nothing. Look, if he's not asleep, his head is so far in the sand you can only see the souls of his feet sticking out. Have a look at this list of

things that he seems to be trying to ignore. China, defend spending, the Middle East, social cohesion in Australia which is crumbling, the energy dilemma, balancing renewables with cheap available power, mining, cost of living. Now, I thought he dodged all these in the election is just too risky, But here it is, and he's there for at least six years and he's still dodging. It's a pity. He could be a reforming prime minister. He doesn't have to worry about the politics

anymore for a long time. He could be one of the great prime ministers. But he'd better get back to work, and get back to work soon. Have a listen to this. Here's one heir being ignored. This is the British Prime Minister, Sir Keith Starmer. He is putting the country on a war footing, his words, a war footing. He is developing Britain's defense capability and doing it very quickly. That's what he said in a speech. It's scary stuff, although he

was talking about Europe, not the Pacific necessarily. If he is right, this would throw the world into turmoil and touch us. The British Prime Minister. Here he is.

Speaker 3

We are moving to war fighting readiness as the central purpose of our armed forces. When we are being directly threatened by states with advanced military forces, the most effective way to deter them is to be ready and frankly, to show them that we're ready to deliver peace through strength. I can announce today they're going to build at least six new munitions factories in the United Kingdom, generating over

a thousand jobs. We will build thousands of new long range weapons in the United Kingdom to boost European deterrence, supporting around eight hundred more jobs. We will defend our homeland by investing in our air and missile defense to better protect these islands. We will create a hybrid Royal Navy, blending drones with worships, submarines and aircraft to patrol the North Atlantic and beyond.

Speaker 2

As I said, scary stuff, but he sounds like a leader, a leader who is rightly worried about the world. And what does our PM do? He didthers when he was warned by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute that we are not ready for war or the talk of war on we should be, he attacked the messengers. Australia's defense spending is approaching two percent of GDP, Britain's heading to three percent. We're aiming at two point three percent by twenty thirty three.

The United States saying hang on, hang on, you need a lot more than that. More like mister Alberanizi has waffled on this. He says, the goal is to give Australia the capability it needs, whatever that means, and we know what it needs. But he stopped short of that three percent target. There's no question and they keep saying it. But there's no question the world is in dangerous times. China is rumbling, Trump is unpredictable, the Middle East threatens

to spread. Russia is increasingly dangerous. Even the Prime Minister, mister Albanzi admits these are tough times with any waffles when he's asked what he's going to do about it. Australia was unprepared for war back in nineteen forty one the Second World War. We escaped all that by the skin of our teeth. Times have changed. We won't have

time to build up the military. One's tensions do erupt Look the simple view, the very simple way to put it, Australia is unprepared to defend itself or add much to its defense. Point one point two. The relationship with the United States is unpredictable. Some say we cannot rely on them for military help if needed. Zero point three. China is becoming more belligerent by the day. The region is tense. We are not ready and what makes it worse, our

leaders are not even talking about it. Part of the underlying problem for Australian What I'm talking about is we don't understand China, or if we do. We have no idea how to handle the country. This isn't I'm talking about the Chinese people here, I'm talking about the Chinese Communist Party. You put this together. China has no concern for basic human rights. China executes more people secretly than any other country in the world. China has little respect

for human life. China makes no secret of the intention to regain Taiwan, even if that requires invasion. China is an international bully member. The ship's circumnavigating Australia. China has a massive military force and huge industrial machine behind it. China cannot be trusted. We've seen that, and I repeat, we don't understand the country. Here's a little bit of proof. This is from a Chinese born Australian, Chang Lai. I interviewed her on my podcast this week. Neil Mitchell asks

why that's available posted now. It's fascinating stuff. She is an Australian citizen, but was still arrested in China and locked up, tortured as well, locked up for more than three years on trumped up spying charges. She was brutalized physically and psychologically. She says it was so bad that

at one stage death looked more appealing. She believed she was seized to send a message to the Australian government from China saying, look, we can do this sort of thing, and we will, because you've been asking diffy or questions about where the COVID virus began, was it Wuhan, was it in a lab? What happened, which, of course were

reasonable questions for world safety. The Chinese didn't like them, so it was a tactical piece of intimidation to arrest Chang Lay And she says, this is what she says about China and the dangers it presents and what we can do about it. And where are we now in the relationship between the two countries.

Speaker 1

I think we're probably at a turning point. We're a lot more alert aware, and I just hope we turn that into action, into more understanding.

Speaker 2

See what is the ultimate danger to Australia from China? I mean it's not invasion. It might be economic control. What is the ultimate danger to Australia.

Speaker 1

You don't think the economic control is dangerous enough. I mean, if we can't be ourselves, we may as well be living in China. I mean, where do we draw the line, if we can't tell them off in Canberra, in Parliament, in our own Parliament house.

Speaker 2

Have a think about it that this is a person who understands the culture. She grew up in Australia but lived in China for more than a decade. She knows the system, she knows the people she suffered at the hands of people who consider human rights irrelevant. We need to listen to Changli and others like her. Look, we need trade with China, we need their money, but one day we're going to have to make a choice that may stop flowing anyway. We do not need what she

describes as the invisible prison of economic coercion. Meanwhile, the mistake some seem to make is to believe this country China is our friend. It is not, and it never will be. Of course, China state control media pumps out propaganda. They're spis that operate in this country, step up their underhand work, and they bully and intimidate. Well, at least they can't ban me because they already have. They won't like what I'm saying here, and they'll be well aware

of it. They can't ban me, they already have some years ago. I play to travel to Shanghai to broadcast about the emergence of the city there. I knew a number of people who lived there and worked there, and it's sort of half west half east, fascinating place. Well, I didn't get there for months. Chinese officials told me my visa was on the way. It never appeared. They never actually said no, wrote it, never refused it. It's

the way they work. They just ignore it. And I wasn't allowed in because I was a critic and the one time I have been to China before they got on to me. It wasn't long before the Olympic Games. I was threatened. I was in Beijing and I'd arranged to broadcast from Tineman Square to the whole program from there. We had approval and permits and letters and everything saying it was all okay. Well, the night before we were due to broadcasts there that aside, it wasn't okay. We

were told permission had been revoked. Why no explanation? When no explanation? Who no explanation? I said, well, okay, I'll get my producer to Justin Smith, to go down call In on his mobile live from Tieneman Square. The message came back Oh, yes, you can do that, but he will be arrested. So discretion was the better part of valor. We didn't go. But that's how they view something we see as sacred to democracy, with all its faults. A free media is part of our lives and part of

our freedom. In China, it simply does not exist. Oh actually, and he's another one. To top off the reasons not to trust China. The United States has established its reported this week the Chinese cranes on their waterfront have been fitted with suspicious communications devices which are remotely accessed. They're calling him spy cranes. An eighty percent of the cranes on the docks in the US A Chinese made a massive electronic spy network. Well, in Australia we've already restricted

Huawei phones. TikTok is is on the edge, TikTok is dodgy. What about the Chinese cars? Who knows? We're getting millions of them on the roads around the world, and a lot in Australia, many many brands of Chinese cars. They all got a little secret communications devising them. I doubt it very much. I doubt that very much. But the point is with China do not trust them. Do not trust them A couple of quick little items. Here's an idea,

and i'd luck your views on this. If you're a dad, or you contenue to be a dad, or if you're a mum for that, if you're a parent. Neil dot Mitchell at nine dot com dot I reckon we need to establish a system of dad lessons. Now it's not lessons on how to tell bad jokes or embarrass the kids, genuine lessons on being a father on parenting. This goes to the heart of pretty serious issues domestic violence. For one, one third of men admit they've used a form of

intimate partner violence. That's just a horrifying figure. But the similar research has shown that having an affectionate and a well understanding father was a strong preventative factor. Now it's a complex area, but to simplify it, both parents are crucial. Women tend to have better parenting instincts than men. Men generally want to do the right thing, some don't know how to. They've grown up with a remote father, often working too hard to help with the kids and their

attitudes to life. I think parenting classes would be invaluable. Some will already exist specifically for men, but not enough expand them. Start from the very basics. You can't control the right to procreate. You can't stop people having babies are going to be bad parents, but you can help people cope with the massive responsibilities of kids once they've got them. So, Dad, classes, what do you think? Neil

dot Mitchell at nine dot com dot au. More evidence this week onto something else that horrendous anti Semitisms building around the world. In the United States, they've recovered just recovering from the murder of a young Jewish couple at a social event, and as that's happening, we have a lunatic with a homemade flame thrower attacking Jews for just being Jews. And here in Australia, the undercurrent of anti

semitives and builds. The universities are turning themselves inside out about whether they should actually be fair to the Jewish people or not. I don't believe there's even discussing that. And this one of Melbourne's main good health festivals that's called the Mind Body Spirit Festival. Mind Body Spirit Festival. A practitioner, a counselor who has been to that festival featured at that festival for about ten years, has been banned at the last minute because she's Jewish. Sharon Tale

is her name. A qualified kinesiologist, she runs stress management workshops and all sorts of things, but banned because people objected to her presence because she was Jewish. And that after a pro Palestine smear campaign, a campaign by the way, it accused her of taking part in genocide, a totally

offensive and nonsensical thing to say. A Melbourne professional, probably a bit of a hippie by a sound of accused of fostering genocide by mostly anonymous Zealots, and she gets thrown out of a legitimate festival she's worked out for ten years. That really is proof of the dangerous wave of anti Semitism. And it is obscene. So where are our leaders? And speaking of obscene, the US sounding more

like a rogue state under Donald Trump. This under Trump's changes on transgender people and gender changing surgery, the FBI is put out an appeal set up a hotline for people to dab in hospitals and doctors. It says this quote, we will protect our children and hold accountable those who utilate them under the guise of offering gender affirming care. Still quoting from the FBI report tips of any hospitals, clinics, or practitioners performing these surgical procedures on children, and it

gives a hotline number. Now, Look, I agree to the extent that gender surgery on young children can just be wrong. Too early, it's wrong. Treating children with gender issues is not wrong. Surgery, though, is irreversible and dangerous, but encouraging people to dob in doctors is ridiculous. If this is a big enough problem, they should require several levels of second opinions and second guessing before it's done. Set it

up as part of the health bureaucracy. Look, it's an awfully complex and sad part of the human condition, but the FBI should not be in the middle of it. They should use their time tracking terrorists and lunatics who think it's okay to shoot a dozen children sitting in a classroom. That's it. Neil dot Mitchella nine dot com dot au too quick remind us mushrooms are very much on the agenda at the moment because of the trial of the woman accused of killing three relatives with poisonous mushrooms.

On my podcast, listen, Neil Mitchell asks why there's an interview from some months ago with a mushroom expert. Now we're not talking about the court case directly, we're talking about fungi and how it can change the world. So if you're thinking mushrooms, and many are, it's fascinating. And on the podcast this week, as I mentioned Chang Lei, the Australian citizen brutalized in a Chinese jail for three years.

She is one of the most cheery, resilient people you'll ever hear, really after what she's been through at various times, not just in China. Cheery and resilient. Neil Mitchell asks why available now next week as well? On the podcast if you've been scammed, if you're worried about being scammed, don't miss this. Scams are costing the average of Australians tens of millions of dollars a year. Here is something you can do about it that'll be posted next Tuesday six a m. Neil Mitchell asks why

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