Australia Reimagined by Hugh Mackay

Members felt that Hugh Mackay should turn his attention to growing tomatoes rather than writing any more books after struggling to read his latest effort.

Those few who didn't throw it into a corner after the first few pages, felt that the book could be better described as a polemic than a well reasoned argument backed by comprehensive research and supported by statistical evidence. Harsh? Well, let's just say members didn't feel it was one of his best.

Without wishing to appear ageist (heaven forbid!), it was felt that some examples where the author was complaining about younger people's loud behaviour in restaurants or on smart phones (revealing far too much about their personal lives) on public transport were understandable irritations in life but far from manifest proof that the world was going to hell in a handbasket.

Moreover, the examples he gives where people are less engaged with society and less compassionate because they rather rely too much on technology - such as listening to books on Audible (instead of enjoying nature or interacting with other people on a walk) or skyping into book club meetings in other states - may have an element of truth but brought snorts of laughter from at least one reader who wouldn't have read the book at all without technology and certainly enjoys the experience of catching up with friends via modern technology.

But if you know anything at all about Hugh Mackay OA - Australian psychologist, sociologist, republican, social researcher, prodigious writer of both fiction and non-fiction publications, and former teacher, one of the founders of the St James Ethics Centre, Patron of the Asylum Seekers' Centre, inaugural chairman of the ACT Government's Community Inclusion Board, former board member of the Australia Council, the Law Society of New South Wales, the Sydney Peace Prize Advisory Committee and the National Heart Foundation - you will already know what you are in for in reading this book.

Mackay argues throughout that Australians are "self-satisfied to the point of smugness, lulled into complacency by the promise of continuing economic prosperity; most of us enjoying sufficient material comfort to insulate us from too much concern about the less well off". He says we are "retreating from the values of an open tolerant society", no longer trusting the institutions (often for good reason!) which once gave us the confidence to battle on for a better future for all.

For those who don't want to read the book but want to get more of a sense of what Mackay is on about, you can skip to the last chapter where he itemises the sort of society he'd like Australia to be (while admitting he is an idealist!). To paraphrase:

"Where people respect each other especially when they disagree and most especially when they disagree on matters of politics and religion. Where kindness and compassion are regarded as normal, commonplace responses to the needs of others, especially the needs of strangers, not soft or fringe motivations mainly associated with do-gooders. Where the strong willingly accept responsibility for the weak, the rich for the poor, the privileged for the underprivileged, the main gamers for the marginalised, the cognitively and emotionally competent for the cognitively and emotionally challenged. Where core values are expressed in the small courtesies of everyday life. Where equality means what is says: where people have equal rights, equal opportunities and equal access to the best we can offer notably in education and health, regardless of their postcode, gender or ethnic heritage or any advantage or disadvantage of birth... " And so on for 17 more points.

Who is Hugh Mackay?

Hugh Mackay, 81, holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney and a Master of Arts from Macquarie University.

He currently holds a number of academic positions, including Adjunct Professor of the Faculty of Arts of Charles Sturt University and Professor of Social Science at the University of Wollongong.

He has previously held positions at the Australian National University, Macquarie Graduate School of Management and the University of Melbourne. He is a Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society and the Market and Social Research Society of Australia, and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society.

Apart from being appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2015, he holds honorary doctorates in letters from Charles Sturt University, Macquarie University, the University of New South Wales and the University of Western Sydney, as well as the Hartnett Medal form the Royal Society of Arts, and the Alumni Award for Community Service from the University of Sydney.

He has written more than 10 non-fiction books about Australian society and psychology, and seven novels.