INTERVIEW Mary Manning

Geraldine Doogue has seen many changes in Australian culture in her years working as an award-winning journalist, broadcaster and television host. The host of  Compass on ABC TV, and Saturday Extra on Radio National, says Australians remain hopeful and optimistic about the country’s future.  

How did you see Australia when you were growing up?
From the nuns at school and my parents I got the sense that I was sitting in the middle of a pretty class-free Australia—that’s what Catholicism in the 50s and 60s felt like. I’m not saying it was necessarily the truth, but it felt that when you scanned the landscape you touched a lot of Australians effortlessly.

The nuns gave me something to aspire to, a message that went beyond material and spiritual success. My mother gave me a similar message but my father’s was slightly different. It seemed that he was more wary, more cautious of big forces that could be dangerous, but the overall impression was that of grasping life.

Do Australians today see life is worth engaging with?
I hear time and time again from English people who come here that they find Australia open, optimistic and hopeful in comparison with the old world. Australians themselves seem to believe the world is not a super dangerous place and that it’s worth living in. I think that’s part of the contemporary Australian dream. In a way it was on display at the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. I came away feeling that there was a lot of engagement in subtle ways.

Do you think the ‘house in the suburbs’ part of the Australian dream will persist into the 21st century?
It has been said that what the average person wants is peace of mind for their families, however they interpret it, and this lies beneath wanting the home and the plasma television. We are not living through an era when peace of mind is readily there. It has to be striven for, personally.

The high-water mark of individualism and consumerism will still go on for a while but it is possible people have started to reflect on whether it is really what they want.

In Compass you look at issues of spirituality, philosophy and belief. Do you think this is a role the media should play and is it played enough?
I believe it should but in general such a role comes up hard against the driving force of secularism in this country. All the internal research tells us that there is an incredible questing spirit, particularly among young people. The media hears this but does nothing about it. It is all too hard, too contentious. Again and again there is real dilemma inside the commissioning editors and all the people in media—how do we cope with this need? The answer seems to be to leave it to someone else like the schools.

How do young people see the world?
I think young Australians are entering a great period in Australian life, when we are connected with Asia. Their prosperity and future lie in a really healthy intermeshing between the Asian neighbourhood and us.

On the other hand, I think the narrative tradition, with its burdens and its joys that we got from the Catholic Church, really invigorated us and gave us a sense of identity. Some now are careering around without this. Australia itself has a strong identity, but I feel young people might need to take care of their soul a little more than they’ve been taught how to do. Many of them are very conscious of this—they look for guidance and often don’t get anything.

The Catholic schools are doing a splendid job. You hear people talking about spiritual matters without fear or embarrassment and this is good.

What would you like for young people in the 21st century?
The world of work young people are entering is fairly deregulated and many don’t realise how vulnerable they might become. I’d like to see a slightly more planned society, wisely planned, with the government in a different role from the past.
We might need to have a different theology of plenty. I thoroughly agree with developing the option for the poor but people also need help to know how to use plenty.

And lastly, I wonder if the Australian dream of this century is going to allow any room for just relaxation, something that was part of Australia in the past and is worth discovering again. They have been talking for years about the need for a balanced life and for serenity. Relaxation is something a little more consciously chosen; it’s without a goal.