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There's more to social welfare and community than economic advantage

By John Ernst - posted Tuesday, 15 August 2000


What I am suggesting is that our society must make a fundamental shift in what it currently values in order to develop as a society. That is that the lessons of history must be learned with regard to the pursuit of wealth being a hollow substitute for meaningful interpersonal relations with people. The value of the human experience is worth more than the sum total value of the economic contribution made by the chemicals that make up the living person.

Am I suggesting then that the community in Swifts Creek has it right and the Community of Doncaster has it wrong? Perhaps.

What I do know is that when I go to Swifts Creek I can leave my car unlocked with my wallet in the front seat, I can play a game of tennis at the Community tennis courts and leave my two dollars in the honour box with approximately twenty other two-dollar coins. The local people are happy to spend time talking with you. The children ride their bikes to school and leave them leaning against a tree not in some cage so that they can’t be stolen.

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Recently I was asked by the Secondary School at Swifts Creek to develop a program for their young women, which would make them more resilient in the real world. In short I was being asked to disassemble a value system to which we would hope every community would be able to aspire. Why?

The reason was one of economics, the wood mill had closed and the town had no employment. Work options would need to be sought outside Swifts Creek and these young women would need to learn the hard lessons of our dog-eat-dog society if they where going to survive.

I know I have strayed from the thrust of your paper and the reforms that must happen to the Social Services System but what I was trying to relay was a sense that this is not a simple debate with simple solutions. We are talking about real people who have a value system, which is being manipulated by well meaning but misguided do-gooders.

This is the first time I have put my thoughts on paper about this and I hope it helps to allow people to understand what is happening.

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About the Author

John Ernst is director of the Gippsland Wilderness Enhanced Program.

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