Advance Australia Where? By Kerry O'Brien

You do not have to be Einstein to work out that we are living through an era of incredible change.
But if we are struggling through the swirls and eddies of that change, we are often doing well just to keep our heads above water, let alone work out what lies ahead - the kind of future we are shaping for ourselves and future generations.

Respected social researcher Hugh Mackay has been engaged in a constant dialogue with Australians for the best part of 50 years, recording their observations and attitudes, and he has just produced a book called Advance Australia ... Where?

Professor Mackay paints a picture of a nation suffering an epidemic of busyness, which he says is a kind of distraction.
"[It's a] form of self administered therapy where people think if they keep running, if they keep emailing, if they keep the mobile phone on, they won't have to think too much about some of the big questions which we've been trying to ignore for the last seven or eight years," he said.
"There is a fashion about busyness, but I think the underlying cause of it is not just to be like everyone else.
"Although, of course, who would admit to not being busy? It's how we now greet each other - 'How you going, Kerry, busy?'
"If you were to say, 'No, not really, it's a quiet week', I'd think well Kerry's over the hill. That is part of it.
"But also another driver is the technology revolution. I mean we are now so wired, so connected, the data is flying back and forth at such a pace that that inevitably helps us all up."

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Peter Campbell - 0418 774 663