EDITORIAL: Dawn of New Year sees Australia at crossroads

As humans, and as a society, it’s natural for us to always strive to be better and do better.

That’s why this time of the year is so lucrative for gyms and purveyors of health supplements and self-help programs.

As we prepare to flick our calendars over to the new year, we are compelled to look back over the 12 months past.

What have we as a nation achieved in the past year?

The difficult truth is: not a lot.

In areas such as the economy, we’ve stagnated. Productivity is at a crawl and there’s little to suggest it’s going to ramp up soon.

The cost-of-living crisis, now entering its fourth year, is in danger of becoming entrenched.

Inflation remains too high and has left many Australian families struggling to pay for the basics.

Some economists now believe we may be waiting until 2026 for any mortgage relief.

Time will tell if they are pessimists or realists.

In other areas, we’ve gone backwards.

The sensible centre feels thinner than ever as the views of those on the fringes reach ever further to extremes.

Misogyny, anti-authoritarianism and racism are alive and thriving.

Conflicts far from our shores have eroded our social cohesion here.

For many, 2024 will be the year that ugly, disturbing anti-Semitism came to Australia.

A year ago, the firebombing of a synagogue in densely populated, multicultural Melbourne would have been unthinkable.

Now, that act of terror — which occurred just three short weeks ago — remains shocking. But sadly, it’s not all that surprising.

This may seem an overly pessimistic view of our world and our nation.

But all this sober reflection on our achievements — or lack thereof — also invites us to consider what we need to do to change course, to do and be more than we were in the previous year.

We cannot become inured to violent, hateful acts and the continued fracturing of our society, just as we must not accept a flatlining of our economy or mediocrity in our politics.

The dawning of a new year means offers us an opportunity to ask where we are heading, as both individuals and as a nation.

Are we content to continue down the path we are currently walking?

Or do we want more — for ourselves, for our families and for our society as a whole?

If we do want more, how are we going to achieve that?

With a Federal election now just months away, this is the question our politicians must answer.

The coming year looks no less uncertain or tumultuous than that which we have just lived through.

Now is the time that we need our leaders to lead; to lay out their visions for Australia and tell us how they intend for us to overcome the challenges we face.

And Australians will decide which path they wish to take.