Discarding delusions and organising for the wellbeing of all

Australia is ruled by myths. They are not just misguided, they are plainly wrong. That is why things are not working. That is why our society is disintegrating and the land is degrading.

New Australia identifies major fallacies and points to well-based ideas that can benefit everyone, and repair society and the land. It weaves them into a coherent vision. It does not just urge, it shows how.

Harmful and fallacious ideas: selfish competition, free markets, small government, deregulation, privatisation, consumerism, development, punishing the poor, an intentional pool of unemployed. Endless growth, mega-cities, budget repair, inflation busting, more fracking, more coal. Fear-mongering, China threat, great and powerful friends.

Thanks to such nonsense, neoliberalism has been an economic failure and a social disaster. Our rulers are stuck in colonial mentalities and taking us into a catastrophic war. The climate is rapidly worsening.

But people are innately social. Absent irrational fear, people can get along. First People and later immigrants can walk together. Governance can be devolved. Nations can co-exist. Money and markets can be reined in and used for good. The world is abundant.

We can live not just in hope, but in the knowledge we are making the world better. Many people already are. The path is there, if we can find the courage to break from old habits and choose it.
We, the people, have the power. We can live fulfilling lives and give our grandchildren a better go at surviving and thriving into the indefinite future.

New Australia is not interested in tweaking politics-as-usual: if we don’t know where we need to get to we will never find the ways to get there.

It does not just wish for better values, it presents the evidence that we are much better than our public conversation commonly implies, why we fall so short and how we can cultivate our better angels.

It does not just complain about mainstream economics, it brings rigorous analysis to its discrediting and replacement.

Read the opening: NewOzOpening

Endorsements

“The stories we live by – that human nature is fundamentally selfish, and that the planet has infinite space to absorb abuse – have turned deadly. In this broad and comprehensive offering, Geoff Davies goes back to the origins of the stories that have turned industrial societies against the earth itself. Not content with traversing physics, philosophy, economics and politics in pursuit of the antecedents of our disastrous present, Davies is at his best when he sketches the outlines of new stories.  New Australia is an urgent and necessary contribution to the big ideas our age demands.” – Scott Ludlam, writer, former senator 

“… a bold philippic that calls for the rekindling of our national spirit, a rebirthing of the dream of decency and fairness that we held in earlier days, a re-energising of the will to make this a better, fairer, kinder land.” – Julian Cribb AM, science journalist and author

“ Geoff Davies’ book “New Australia” should be required reading for anyone who cares about the future of Australia, or indeed humanity at large. … Geoff draws on his wide scientific and life experience to chart the way to overcome this existential challenge, creating a genuinely sustainable and prosperous society where the common good is respected and individual freedoms are balanced with corresponding responsibilities. A tour de force. Thoroughly recommended.” – Ian Dunlop, Member, The Club of Rome, Formerly: Chair Australian Coal Association, CEO Australian Institute of Company Directors. “

“In his latest book “New Australia”, Davies boldly argues the need for a new direction in the structure and operation of Australian society.  I have followed the author’s journey for several years, and I consider that what he is proposing in this book is stimulating and constructive, and that the arguments he presents, need to be seriously considered by politicians, decision-makers and leading thinkers across Australia.” – Em Prof Bob Douglas AO; formerly the Founding Director of the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at The Australian National University, Founder of Australia 21.

Full endorsements: here.