On average, Australians watch more than three hours of television a day, compared with 12 minutes a day spent by the average couple talking to each other.

If I were asked about what to do about the level of insecurity and anxiety in contemporary Australian society, I wouldn't start with politics and I wouldn't say too much about terrorism. I'd suggest as a first step, that you invite the neighbours over for a drink this weekend. Today a drink, tomorrow a barbeque, pretty soon, a community.

Yet in our enthusiasm for the idea that everyone should be able to read and write fluently, we may be missing a crucial point: in today's culture, finely honed literacy skills are simply not as important as they once were.

The yearning for strong leadership is more about strength of purpose - clarity of vision - than about merely 'getting tough'.

A strangely reflective, even melancholy day. Is that because, unlike our cousins in the northern hemisphere, Easter is not associated with the energy and vitality of spring but with the more subdued spirit of autumn.

It's Australian to do such things because, however uncivilised they may seem, it's human to do them.

Nothing is perfect. Life is messy. Relationships are complex. Outcomes are uncertain. People are irrational.