Sushi, pets and sleeping rough

The man looked like any other homeless person in Sydney, bare feet poking out from under a blanket that had seen better days. Searching for a couple of coins, I notice the sign above him. Doggy Day Care. In the window a plump luxurious aubergine coloured sofa is surrounded by all manner of dog paraphernalia. A sign boasts ‘tents and tunnels to play in, bubbles to chase, cozy beds to sleep in and even a plasma TV for our discerning guests. There are heaters during winter and fans during summer.’

And there we have it. Call it irony. Call it the great divide. But it’s everywhere.

Politicians earn an average base salary of $207,100 following an increase of two per cent in July. The Newstart allowance has not increased in 25 years. While some politicians admit the $555.70-a-fortnight payment would be ‘difficult to live on’ there are no signs of any change.

Our religiously motivated Prime Minister says ‘prayer gives us a reminder of our humility and our vulnerability’ yet steadfastly refuses to help some of our most vulnerable citizens.

Two Tamil asylum seekers and their Australian-born daughters who made a home in Biloela, Queensland for four years are on Christmas Island fighting their deportation. Despite widespread community support and calls from the United Nations to release them, they remain in detention. The Government having spent an extraordinary $30 million on reopening the centre in February with the only inmates being the small family of four.

In the same week food charity Foodbank revealed that there has been a been a 22 per cent increase in Australians seeking food to eat from charities nationwide in the past twelve months, the Bondi Icebergs Dining Room announced it would be hosting a Japanese sushi master charging diners $1000-a-head.

Homelessness in Australia has worsened and food charities stretched. Home renovation and cooking shows dominate prime time TV. Hmm.

We hear ‘if you have a go in this country, you will get a go.’ We toss around expressions like ‘fair go’ and ‘mateship’. Add in sun, surf, sport, and the ability to not take ourselves seriously, it’s a rosy picture.

But dig deeper, and it’s not so rosy.

It’s a worrying time.

Full-time work is vanishing, replaced with precarious part-time or causal labour. The gig economy is flourishing with little or no safety net.

The retirement age is being pushed back and government pensions are shrinking.

Average wages have flatlined, yet corporate bosses pay themselves obscene amounts.

Scots College in Sydney's east is undergoing $25.1 million major upgrade of its library building, including a ‘complete recladding of the exterior in a Scottish Baronial architectural style’ complete with castellations, a tower, a turret, and ‘grand bay windows’. Other private schools boast of auditoriums with adjustable orchestra pits, on-site baristas and Olympic standard sporting facilities. It’s the parents who choose to pay the exorbitant fees. But when a public school in Sydney's west is now 80 per cent demountables and more than 500 students are having to spend their lunchtimes lining up to use the ten available toilets, something isn’t right.

We boast that Australia is a successful multicultural nation. We all nod and agree there is no place for racism in Australia. But watch the documentary about the racism faced by Australian of the Year and former Swans star Adam Goodes and hang your head in shame. Check out the video Indigenous Australian actress and writer Nakkiah Lui recently shared of a racist encounter she had with a woman. At a supermarket. Remember the Cronulla Beach riots in 2005 where a large group of white thugs targeted men of ‘Middle Eastern appearance’? Sun and surf indeed.

There will always be cracks, there will always be a divide. But it’s getting bigger, and we have to call it out for what it is. To notice it, to talk about it. To push for change.

And if I did have a dog, it wouldn’t be allowed to watch a plasma TV.