The Facebook Post That Shocked Me

[00:00:00]This morning I came across a post online from a Queensland mom. She wasn't talking politics. She wasn't blaming anyone. She simply said she was struggling. Rent was becoming unaffordable. Work was hard to find. And she was putting a post out to ask advice on where she could possibly move that would have more opportunities for her and her family. The comments and replies really fascinated me. Not because they were negative or cruel, but because they all involved the government. Move to Canra. Plenty of government jobs there.

[00:00:34]One said, "Get into hospital administration. It pays better than administration in the private sector. My hubby works for the council and I'm a nurse. Apply for the public service. The New South Wales government will even cover your relocating fees. look into government housing assistance. It went on and on and on. Government, government, government. And that's when it hit me. When did Australians stop dreaming of building things, starting businesses, creating jobs, taking risks, inventing products, employing people?

[00:01:08]Because once upon a time, if someone asked you how to get ahead in Australia, the answer would have been start something, build something, create something. But today the answer seems to be find a government desk. Now before anyone gets upset, this is not a criticism of public service workers, frontline workers. We need them. We absolutely need them. This is a much bigger question. Why are so many Australians looking at the economy and concluding that the safest, most prosperous path forward is government funded employment? Governments don't create wealth, they redistribute it. And every public sector wage, every department, every program, every service ultimately relies on a productive private economy generating the tax to fund it. And history is full of countries that forgot that. Countries where the government grew faster than the economy that was supporting it.

[00:02:04]Countries that eventually hit a wall. So perhaps the most important question isn't where this mom should move.

[00:02:10]Perhaps the question is what has happened to Australia if the best advice we can give to young Australian families is to build your future by going to find a government job.

[00:02:23]Just asking.