That’s why I’ve been shocked by the marches and rallies around the country opposing immigration. Everyone involved says mass immigration, but it’s clear in practice they mean most immigration. Those taking part probably have genuine grievances, but they have picked the wrong target to blame and, in the process, have been steered into becoming in effect neo-Nazi fellow travellers. Why am I surprised, though? As I repeatedly say Australia is not one country, but two – both parts going in opposite directions, one into the past and one into the future.
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| Bomber aircrew during World War 2 with my uncle Jack (second from right). Another uncle, Jim was a navigator on a Lancaster bomber. He was decorated twice with the Distinguished Flying Cross. He used to joke that the rate of attrition amongst the bomber aircrew was so dire that they gave medals to anyone who survived – but I'm sure they didn't give out medals just for turning up. |
Never revisiting that horror and that evil – or refighting that war
I keep reflecting that five of my uncles fought the Nazis in World War II, on torpedo boats, Lancaster bombers and freezing convoys round the top of Norway – luckily they all survived, but many of their friends did not. I don't want us – or our children – to have to refight that war.
My father-in law was conscripted into the German Army. He said ‘I've had enough of armies’. One of my uncles was a navigator on the Lancaster bombers that fire-bombed Dresden. My mother-in-law was staying with relatives on the outskirts and watched as the city burned. Here's to never revisiting that horror and that evil and to there being no guarantee of freedom of speech for the sworn enemies of freedom of speech. The people lurking behind (and sometimes in front of) this are as un-Australian as it gets.
On the positive side, cultural diversity, already a major feature of Australia, but further fuelled by immigration and travel, feeds into Australia’s innovation, something we desperately need for a robust economy and culture. This is because where different cultures, world-views, approaches and ideas intersect and bounce off each other, innovation thrives. It is important to have different opinions or very dull ideas come out of the process.
On the positive side, cultural diversity, already a major feature of Australia, but further fuelled by immigration and travel, feeds into Australia’s innovation, something we desperately need for a robust economy and culture. This is because where different cultures, world-views, approaches and ideas intersect and bounce off each other, innovation thrives. It is important to have different opinions or very dull ideas come out of the process.
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| After several years of one type of pandemic, we're confronted by another – right wing populism and racism. The ill-informed and perplexing anti-vaxxer sentiment from the first has helped fuel this one. |
‘On the positive side, cultural diversity, already a major feature of Australia, but further fuelled by immigration and travel, feeds into Australia’s innovation, something we desperately need for a robust economy and culture.’
This works both ways, because migrants with their cultural awareness of where they come from and their connections are able to help build cultural, social and economic bridges with other countries important to Australia. It also reinforces how Australia shows itself to the world, as a welcoming, clever and creative country demonstrating strength in diversity. Anyone who tries to undermine that message, as our marchers do, is selling Australia short.
During the first Trump Republican regime, when migrants were being actively discouraged from working in America, one journalist suggested wisely this was the ideal opportunity for Australia to offer a home to all the talent that America was stupidly rejecting. Unfortunately we never latched into this fine idea, probably because of fear of the reaction from the anti-immigration lobby and their shadowy backers.
Killing the goose that lays the golden eggs
It’s also an unfortunate reality that due to Australia’s appallingly low level of productivity, the only economic growth we’ve benefited from over the last twenty years has been due to immigration – drastically cutting immigration would be potentially killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. While it’s easy to blame them, migrants aren’t responsible for housing shortages and housing prices that have gone through the roof.
Killing the goose that lays the golden eggs
It’s also an unfortunate reality that due to Australia’s appallingly low level of productivity, the only economic growth we’ve benefited from over the last twenty years has been due to immigration – drastically cutting immigration would be potentially killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. While it’s easy to blame them, migrants aren’t responsible for housing shortages and housing prices that have gone through the roof.
Responsibility rests with decades of Government pork-barrelling, offering first home buyers grants, which simply increased demand and drove up prices, and tax lurks, like negative gearing and franking credits and generous treatment of superannuation. Nor are migrants responsible for the high cost of living. Try the fact that the coal and gas companies virtually walk away free with our resources without paying fair tax and price collusion by large oligopolies.
'It’s also an unfortunate reality that due to Australia’s appallingly low level of productivity, the only economic growth we’ve benefited from over the last twenty years has been due to immigration – drastically cutting immigration would be potentially killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.'
Our disaffected protestors might complain that migrants are taking their jobs, but from what I could see from the remnants of the so-called Convoy to Canberra, who hung around Canberra like a bad smell for years afterwards – some of them still here, their rusting pickup trucks parked in out of the way public reserves – many of them seem sad loners with nowhere else to go, who surely must be surviving on benefits from the welfare state they despise.
More women makes more sense
This is the same reason why more women – in corporations, sports clubs and political parties – mean new and better ideas are fostered. Innovation places applied creativity firmly at the centre of economic and social development in the new knowledge economy which represents the future of Australia. I don’t know what Sussan Ley stands for, but I’m amazed that the Liberal Party has elected a new leader who is a woman, represents a regional electorate and can fly a plane – surely three major pluses that could be promoted enthusiastically to voters. Yet the response from many in the Liberal Party seems to be to try to undermine her at every opportunity.
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| The remnants of the so-called Convoy to Canberra – whoever dreamed up the name had been watching too many American movies. |
The importance of diversity has been recognised previously by influential figures in the public service, such as Martin Parkinson. Parkinson was the senior public servant who survived a near death experience at the hands of Tony Abbott, only to be resurrected by the incoming Malcolm Turnbull to become his new head of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. When Parkinson ran Treasury he recognised that to increase policy flexibility and innovation, he needed to expand the range of mindsets around him.
‘This is the same reason why more women – in corporations, sports clubs and political parties – mean new and better ideas are fostered. Innovation places applied creativity firmly at the centre of economic and social development in the new knowledge economy which represents the future of Australia.’
'He recognised that to increase policy flexibility and innovation, he needed to expand the range of mindsets around him.'
I’m sure many of our protestors also think that there are too many women getting ahead in the world. It seems to go with the mind-set package. I’ve worked with (luckily not too many and not too closely) some fairly mediocre men who were convinced that women were being promoted ahead of them because of equal opportunity considerations – they weren't able to demonstrate some self-awareness and realise that the reason the women were being promoted was because they were more capable. In their view, the whole world was against them.
Thinking you are more capable than you are – and the world is unfair
It makes me think of a well-known American psychological experiment that supposedly demonstrated that those who are most incompetent are distinguished by their belief that they are actually highly competent – it’s one of the signs of that incompetence. In reality it’s more complicated than that – I note with a sense of relief that subsequent research suggests that those who are least competent or knowledgeable are fairly accurate at judging it. However, it is definitely the case that in almost all areas of activity, humans consistently overestimate how capable they are compared to their peers.
'An all-encompassing approach helps build a national and local culture that draws on all the talent and inventiveness and creativity available to it. In a world where change is fast and widespread, can anyone afford not to mobilise all they have going for them – to survive, let alone to succeed?'
It's no accident that it’s mainly women who read and attend museums and galleries. It’s not because men can’t read – though increasingly I’m not sure that many of them can read anything longer than a few paragraphs, but they are probably not the main driving force behind a vibrant culture.
An all-encompassing approach helps build a national and local culture that draws on all the talent and inventiveness and creativity available to it. In a world where change is fast and widespread, can anyone afford not to mobilise all they have going for them – to survive, let alone to succeed? In the end, that’s got to be good for everyone concerned.© Stephen Cassidy 2025
See also
Be careful what you wish for – how the indirect impacts of culture came to overshadow its inherent value
‘Recent turmoil at the Australian National University has raised a serious issue about the way we view and discuss creativity and culture. For many decades there were profound attempts to explain how arts, culture and creativity in general had immensely broad impacts across society, including in the economy – attempts that I was part of. That was, and remains, extremely important, but, partly as a result of these attempts, the inherent long-term impacts of arts, culture and creativity have increasingly been ignored and only the broader flow on impacts, often the more immediately practical ones, have been emphasised. In a neo-liberal universe that understands the price of everything and the value of nothing, understanding and managing this complex balance is crucial’, Be careful what you wish for – how culture’s indirect impacts came to overshadow its inherent value.
SHORT NOTE: A life in design in a city of design
‘I have always been impressed that two eminent and talented Italian architects, Romaldo Giurgola and Enrico Taglietti, moved to Canberra to pursue their work and both ended up falling in love with the city and settling here. Giurgola is well known as the leading architect for the new Parliament House building, but the work of Taglietti has an extremely broad-ranging presence across the city’, SHORT NOTE: A life in design in a city of design.
‘I have always been impressed that two eminent and talented Italian architects, Romaldo Giurgola and Enrico Taglietti, moved to Canberra to pursue their work and both ended up falling in love with the city and settling here. Giurgola is well known as the leading architect for the new Parliament House building, but the work of Taglietti has an extremely broad-ranging presence across the city’, SHORT NOTE: A life in design in a city of design.
Flight of the wild geese – Australia’s place in the world of global talent
‘As the global pandemic has unfolded, I have been struck by how out of touch a large number of Australians are with Australia’s place in the world. Before the pandemic many Australians had become used to travelling overseas regularly – and spending large amounts of money while there – but we seem to think that our interaction with the global world is all about discretionary leisure travel. In contrast, increasingly many Australians were travelling – and living – overseas because their jobs required it. Whether working for multinational companies that have branches in Australia or Australian companies trying to break into global markets, Australian talent often needs to be somewhere else than here to make the most of opportunities for Australia. Not only technology, but even more importantly, talent, will be crucial to the economy of the future’, Flight of the wild geese – Australia’s place in the world of global talent.
‘As the global pandemic has unfolded, I have been struck by how out of touch a large number of Australians are with Australia’s place in the world. Before the pandemic many Australians had become used to travelling overseas regularly – and spending large amounts of money while there – but we seem to think that our interaction with the global world is all about discretionary leisure travel. In contrast, increasingly many Australians were travelling – and living – overseas because their jobs required it. Whether working for multinational companies that have branches in Australia or Australian companies trying to break into global markets, Australian talent often needs to be somewhere else than here to make the most of opportunities for Australia. Not only technology, but even more importantly, talent, will be crucial to the economy of the future’, Flight of the wild geese – Australia’s place in the world of global talent.
Crossing boundaries – the unlimited landscape of creativity
‘When I was visiting Paris last year, there was one thing I wanted to do before I returned home – visit the renowned French bakery that had trained a Melbourne woman who had abandoned the high stakes of Formula One racing to become a top croissant maker. She had decided that being an engineer in the world of elite car racing was not for her, but rather that her future lay in the malleable universe of pastry. Crossing boundaries of many kinds and traversing the borders of differing countries and cultures, she built a radically different future to the one she first envisaged’, Crossing boundaries – the unlimited landscape of creativity.
‘When I was visiting Paris last year, there was one thing I wanted to do before I returned home – visit the renowned French bakery that had trained a Melbourne woman who had abandoned the high stakes of Formula One racing to become a top croissant maker. She had decided that being an engineer in the world of elite car racing was not for her, but rather that her future lay in the malleable universe of pastry. Crossing boundaries of many kinds and traversing the borders of differing countries and cultures, she built a radically different future to the one she first envisaged’, Crossing boundaries – the unlimited landscape of creativity.
Contemporary Indigenous fashion – where community culture and economics meet
‘The recent exhibition 'Piinpi', about contemporary Indigenous fashion, has a significance for Australian culture that is yet to be fully revealed. The themes covered by the exhibition are important because they demonstrate the intersection of the culture of First Nations communities with creative industries and the cultural economy. In attempting to address the major issue of Indigenous disadvantage, for example, it is critical to recognise that one of the most important economic resources possessed by First Nations communities is their culture. Through the intellectual property that translates it into a form that can generate income in a contemporary economy, that culture is pivotal to jobs and to income. It may not be mining but it mines a far richer seam – authentic and rich content that has already been recognised internationally for its high value, just like our iron and coal. At a time when First Nations communities are talking increasingly about gaining greater control over their economic life, this is highly relevant’, Contemporary Indigenous fashion – where community culture and economics meet.
Understanding the economy of the future - innovation and its place in the knowledge economy, creative economy, creative industries and cultural economy
‘When we start to think about the economy of the future – and the clean and clever jobs that make it up – we encounter a confusing array of ideas and terms. Innovation, the knowledge economy, the creative economy, creative industries and the cultural economy are all used, often interchangeably. Over the years my own thinking about them has changed and I thought it would be useful to try to clarify how they are all related’, Understanding the economy of the future – innovation and its place in the knowledge economy, creative economy, creative industries and cultural economy. Understanding the economy of the future - innovation and its place in the knowledge economy, creative economy, creative industries and cultural economy
Do you want fries with that?
‘In my long working life I've traversed the public sector, the private sector and the community sector - not lots of people can say that. I've seen the best - and the worst - of them all. Lately I've noticed a whole new approach to how local businesses interact with me. It's the 'do you want chips with that' approach to upping the spending ante. Given the way that over the last few decades we have started to treat public and community services like private businesses - and often turn them into private businesses - I expect to see this become more widespread’, Do you want fries with that?
Industries of the future help tell stories of the past – Weta at work in the shaky isles
‘After three weeks travelling round the North Island of New Zealand, I’ve had more time to reflect on the importance of the clean and clever industries of the future and the skilled knowledge workers who make them. In the capital, Wellington, instead of the traditional industries that once often dominated a town, like the railways or meatworks or the car plant or, in Tasmania, the Hydro Electricity Commission, there was Weta. It’s clear that the industries of the future can thrive in unexpected locations. Expertise, specialist skills and industry pockets can occur just about anywhere, as long as you have connectivity, talent and a framework of support that makes it possible. These skills which Weta depends on for its livelihood are also being used to tell important stories from the past’, Industries of the future help tell stories of the past – Weta at work in the shaky isles.
Designs on the future – how Australia’s designed city has global plans
‘In many ways design is a central part of the vocabulary of our time and integrally related to so many powerful social and economic forces – creative industries, popular culture, the digital transformation of society. Design is often misunderstood or overlooked and it's universal vocabulary and pervasive nature is not widely understood, especially by government. In a rapidly changing world, there is a constant tussle between the local and the national (not to mention the international). This all comes together in the vision for the future that is Design Canberra, a celebration of all things design, with preparations well underway for a month long festival this year. The ultimate vision of Craft ACT for Canberra is to add another major annual event to Floriade, Enlighten and the Multicultural Festival, filling a gap between them and complementing them all’, Designs on the future – how Australia’s designed city has global plans.
Creativity at work – economic engine for our cities
‘It is becoming abundantly clear that in our contemporary world two critical things will help shape the way we make a living – and our economy overall. The first is the central role of cities in generating wealth. The second is the knowledge economy of the future and, more particularly, the creative industries that sit at its heart. In Sydney, Australia’s largest city, both of these come together in a scattering of evolving creative clusters – concentrations of creative individuals and small businesses, clumped together in geographic proximity. This development is part of a national and world-wide trend which has profound implications’, Creativity at work – economic engine for our cities.
The immense potential of creative industries for regional revival
‘Across Australia, local communities facing major economic and social challenges have become interested in the joint potential of regional arts and local creative industries to contribute to or often lead regional revival. This has paralleled the increasing importance of our major cities as economic hubs and centres of innovation’, The immense potential of creative industries for regional revival.
My nephew just got a job with Weta – the long road of the interconnected world
‘My nephew just got a job in Wellington New Zealand with Weta Digital, which makes the digital effects for Peter Jackson’s epics. Expertise, specialist skills and industry pockets can occur just about anywhere, as long as you have connectivity, talent and a framework of support that makes it possible. This is part of the new knowledge economy of the future, with its core of creative industries and its links to our cultural landscape. Increasingly the industries of the future are both clever and clean. At their heart are the developing creative industries which are based on the power of creativity and are a critical part of Australia’s future – innovative, in most cases centred on small business and closely linked to the profile of Australia as a clever country, both domestically and internationally. This is transforming the political landscape of Australia, challenging old political franchises and upping the stakes in the offerings department’, My nephew just got a job with Weta – the long road of the interconnected world.
Applied creativity
‘I have been dealing with the issue of creativity for as long as I can remember. Recently, I have had to deal with a new concept—innovation. All too often, creativity is confused with innovation. A number of writers about innovation have made the point that innovation and creativity are different. In their view, innovation involves taking a creative idea and commercialising it. If we look more broadly, we see that innovation may not necessarily involve only commercialising ideas. Instead the core feature is application—innovation is applied creativity. Even ideas that may seem very radical can slip into the wider culture in unexpected ways’, Applied creativity.
Creative industries – applied arts and sciences
‘The nineteenth century fascination with applied arts and sciences — the economic application of nature, arts and sciences — and the intersection of these diverse areas and their role in technological innovation are as relevant today for our creative industries. From the Garden Palace, home of Australia’s first international exhibition in 1879, to the Economic Gardens in Adelaide’s Botanic Gardens these collections and exhibitions lay the basis for modern Australian industry. The vast Garden Palace building in the Sydney Botanic Gardens was the Australian version of the great Victorian-era industrial expositions, where, in huge palaces of glass, steel and timber, industry, invention, science, the arts and nature all intersected and overlapped. Despite burning to the ground, it went on to become the inspiration for what eventually became the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences — the Powerhouse Museum’, Creative Industries.
‘In my long working life I've traversed the public sector, the private sector and the community sector - not lots of people can say that. I've seen the best - and the worst - of them all. Lately I've noticed a whole new approach to how local businesses interact with me. It's the 'do you want chips with that' approach to upping the spending ante. Given the way that over the last few decades we have started to treat public and community services like private businesses - and often turn them into private businesses - I expect to see this become more widespread’, Do you want fries with that?
Broader and deeper - the creativity and culture of everyday life
‘The Impact and Enterprise post-graduate course at the University of Canberra course is unique in Australia in placing creative industries and the creative and cultural economy in the broader landscape of the wider impacts of creativity and culture - both economic and social. It starts from the premise that what the broader social and economic roles of creativity and culture have in common is that a focus on the economic role of creativity and culture is similar to the focus on its community role – both spring from recognition that creativity and culture are integral to everyday life and the essential activities that make it up. In March 2021, as the course entered its third year, I gave a talk to the students about where it came from,’ Broader and deeper - the creativity and culture of everyday life.
‘The Impact and Enterprise post-graduate course at the University of Canberra course is unique in Australia in placing creative industries and the creative and cultural economy in the broader landscape of the wider impacts of creativity and culture - both economic and social. It starts from the premise that what the broader social and economic roles of creativity and culture have in common is that a focus on the economic role of creativity and culture is similar to the focus on its community role – both spring from recognition that creativity and culture are integral to everyday life and the essential activities that make it up. In March 2021, as the course entered its third year, I gave a talk to the students about where it came from,’ Broader and deeper - the creativity and culture of everyday life.
Music makes the world go round – the bright promise of our export future
‘After ABBA, in an unexpected break from its traditional way of building national wealth from natural resources, Sweden managed to discover a new source of income. It was not as you would expect coal or oil. Rather than oil what it had discovered was song royalties, part of a fundamental change in the nature of modern economies which transformed them from relying solely on natural resources, transport and manufacturing to make creative content a new form of resource mining. Examples like theirs point to potentially major opportunities for the Australian music industry to become a net exporter of music,’ Music makes the world go round – the bright promise of our export future.
‘After ABBA, in an unexpected break from its traditional way of building national wealth from natural resources, Sweden managed to discover a new source of income. It was not as you would expect coal or oil. Rather than oil what it had discovered was song royalties, part of a fundamental change in the nature of modern economies which transformed them from relying solely on natural resources, transport and manufacturing to make creative content a new form of resource mining. Examples like theirs point to potentially major opportunities for the Australian music industry to become a net exporter of music,’ Music makes the world go round – the bright promise of our export future.
Industries of the future help tell stories of the past – Weta at work in the shaky isles
‘After three weeks travelling round the North Island of New Zealand, I’ve had more time to reflect on the importance of the clean and clever industries of the future and the skilled knowledge workers who make them. In the capital, Wellington, instead of the traditional industries that once often dominated a town, like the railways or meatworks or the car plant or, in Tasmania, the Hydro Electricity Commission, there was Weta. It’s clear that the industries of the future can thrive in unexpected locations. Expertise, specialist skills and industry pockets can occur just about anywhere, as long as you have connectivity, talent and a framework of support that makes it possible. These skills which Weta depends on for its livelihood are also being used to tell important stories from the past’, Industries of the future help tell stories of the past – Weta at work in the shaky isles.
Designs on the future – how Australia’s designed city has global plans
‘In many ways design is a central part of the vocabulary of our time and integrally related to so many powerful social and economic forces – creative industries, popular culture, the digital transformation of society. Design is often misunderstood or overlooked and it's universal vocabulary and pervasive nature is not widely understood, especially by government. In a rapidly changing world, there is a constant tussle between the local and the national (not to mention the international). This all comes together in the vision for the future that is Design Canberra, a celebration of all things design, with preparations well underway for a month long festival this year. The ultimate vision of Craft ACT for Canberra is to add another major annual event to Floriade, Enlighten and the Multicultural Festival, filling a gap between them and complementing them all’, Designs on the future – how Australia’s designed city has global plans.
Creativity at work – economic engine for our cities
‘It is becoming abundantly clear that in our contemporary world two critical things will help shape the way we make a living – and our economy overall. The first is the central role of cities in generating wealth. The second is the knowledge economy of the future and, more particularly, the creative industries that sit at its heart. In Sydney, Australia’s largest city, both of these come together in a scattering of evolving creative clusters – concentrations of creative individuals and small businesses, clumped together in geographic proximity. This development is part of a national and world-wide trend which has profound implications’, Creativity at work – economic engine for our cities.
‘Across Australia, local communities facing major economic and social challenges have become interested in the joint potential of regional arts and local creative industries to contribute to or often lead regional revival. This has paralleled the increasing importance of our major cities as economic hubs and centres of innovation’, The immense potential of creative industries for regional revival.
My nephew just got a job with Weta – the long road of the interconnected world
‘My nephew just got a job in Wellington New Zealand with Weta Digital, which makes the digital effects for Peter Jackson’s epics. Expertise, specialist skills and industry pockets can occur just about anywhere, as long as you have connectivity, talent and a framework of support that makes it possible. This is part of the new knowledge economy of the future, with its core of creative industries and its links to our cultural landscape. Increasingly the industries of the future are both clever and clean. At their heart are the developing creative industries which are based on the power of creativity and are a critical part of Australia’s future – innovative, in most cases centred on small business and closely linked to the profile of Australia as a clever country, both domestically and internationally. This is transforming the political landscape of Australia, challenging old political franchises and upping the stakes in the offerings department’, My nephew just got a job with Weta – the long road of the interconnected world.
Creative industries critical to vitality of Australian culture
‘The developing creative industries are a critical part of Australia’s future – clean, innovative, at their core based on small business and closely linked to the profile of Australia as a clever country, both domestically and internationally.’ Creative industries critical to vitality of Australian culture.
‘The developing creative industries are a critical part of Australia’s future – clean, innovative, at their core based on small business and closely linked to the profile of Australia as a clever country, both domestically and internationally.’ Creative industries critical to vitality of Australian culture.
Applied creativity
‘I have been dealing with the issue of creativity for as long as I can remember. Recently, I have had to deal with a new concept—innovation. All too often, creativity is confused with innovation. A number of writers about innovation have made the point that innovation and creativity are different. In their view, innovation involves taking a creative idea and commercialising it. If we look more broadly, we see that innovation may not necessarily involve only commercialising ideas. Instead the core feature is application—innovation is applied creativity. Even ideas that may seem very radical can slip into the wider culture in unexpected ways’, Applied creativity.
Creative industries – applied arts and sciences
‘The nineteenth century fascination with applied arts and sciences — the economic application of nature, arts and sciences — and the intersection of these diverse areas and their role in technological innovation are as relevant today for our creative industries. From the Garden Palace, home of Australia’s first international exhibition in 1879, to the Economic Gardens in Adelaide’s Botanic Gardens these collections and exhibitions lay the basis for modern Australian industry. The vast Garden Palace building in the Sydney Botanic Gardens was the Australian version of the great Victorian-era industrial expositions, where, in huge palaces of glass, steel and timber, industry, invention, science, the arts and nature all intersected and overlapped. Despite burning to the ground, it went on to become the inspiration for what eventually became the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences — the Powerhouse Museum’, Creative Industries.
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