I like to think of myself as having a good sense of humour. I am certainly not woke. I am alarmed at cancellation culture. And I fail at being a true believer. Moreover, I come from a minority community that relishes making fun of itself, and even accepts – albeit with acute sensitivity to its misuse – humour from outside the community about itself... So why is it that, while recently re-watching a skit from the undoubtedly funny and well-meaning Sammy J, I suddenly realised that I was pretty well over political satire – and, therefore, most Australian comedy? My speculation takes me to a number of likely reasons, aside from the possibility that I have become a boring old fart – which, of course, I completely reject! Perhaps the most immediate cause of my disenchantment is simply over-exposure.

When historians look back at the 2020s, they will most likely see it as the pivot moment when the world economy ceased to be dominated by the West and instead became a multipolar structure in which many countries compete, and cooperate, on a relatively equal footing. The so-called ‘unipolar moment’, which began when the Soviet Union fell in 1991, is coming to an end. The turning point was the West’s ill-fated attempt to bankrupt Russia. When Russia invaded the Ukraine in 2022, Western governments mounted an aggressive financial and economic war strategy. They implemented sanctions against Russian exports, a conventional approach that has not worked effectively for decades. It, predictably, failed completely. 

The French have a saying: “If you don’t do politics, politics will do you.” And goodness me, Americans are being done dirty. To say US democracy hangs in the balance is not hyperbole; it’s a talking point for the Biden campaign. “Democracy is on the ballot. Freedom is on the ballot,” Biden said at a recent rally. These things Americans have come to take for granted are on the ballot because it’s all but certain Trump will be on the ballot too. The multiple legal challenges aimed at preventing Trump from returning to the presidency have served only to make it more likely that he will. With every new lawsuit Trump has improved in the polls as the confirmation bias of his rabid supporters reaches new heights. “It’s a witch-hunt” Trump says, and he’s right — a “witch-hunt” is a campaign directed against a person or group holding views considered unorthodox or a threat to society.

The controversy surrounding Australia Day is no bad thing. January 26 is our annual reminder of the 1788 starting gun for the British theft of an entire continent from the people who had occupied its vastness for 60 thousand years. They and the thousands of unique creatures of the land and waterways with whom they interacted fell to the guns of the pale strangers in their fancy dress. Today, it would be labelled a crime against humanity, or even the overworked phraseology of ‘cultural genocide’. And we reaffirmed our role as accomplices last year – as we did in the White Australia policy of 1901 – with our two-thirds vote against the Aboriginal Voice in the Constitution. We are not yet a nation that embraces its past. Instead, Australia is a work in progress. We have yet to pass from adolescence to the mature identity deserving of an Australia Day to celebrate the special event marking its arrival.