Right now, Australia is drifting. Australia is a wealthy country, but many people don’t feel secure. Living costs are rising faster than wages. Housing is out of reach for too many. Trust in politics is falling. And big decisions about climate, industry and the future keep getting delayed.

This is not because Australians lack talent or ideas. It is because Canberra lacks political courage.

A stronger focus on innovation, openness, education and social cohesion would put Australia on a better path. Innovation creates real jobs, not just property bubbles.

Education builds adaptability for a changing economy. Openness keeps us connected to the world and to new ideas. Social cohesion makes reform possible.

But here’s the problem: Political parties talks about these things, while designing policies that undermine them.

Talk on innovation is more business as usual: funding flows to incumbents instead of building new industries. Education reforms ignore the reality of housing stress and insecure work. Openness becomes a slogan while communities are left to carry the risks. Social cohesion is invoked rhetorically, while inequality quietly grows.

This is the political mess communities like Corio are living with.

The deeper issue is structural. Australia’s political system rewards short-term survival, not long-term stewardship. Decisions are shaped by donors, lobbyists and media cycles, rather than by what will still work in 20 or 30 years.

That is why Community Independents matter.

A better policy framework – one that actually works for places like Corio – must include four non-negotiables that Canberra keeps avoiding.

First, integrity and accountability. Without strong safeguards against policy capture, public money keeps flowing upward instead of outward. Integrity is not a “nice-to-have” – it’s economic infrastructure.

Second, real economic diversification. Corio knows what it means to be exposed to economic change. A resilient future requires investment in clean energy, local manufacturing, care work and skills that can’t be shipped offshore.

Third, security during transition. People will support change when they know they won’t be abandoned. That means reliable healthcare, education, housing and clear pathways for workers and regions as industries evolve.

And fourth, honesty about climate and ecological limits. There is no prosperity on a damaged planet. Delaying action doesn’t protect communities – it exposes them to havoc and disaster.

Australia has everything it needs to do better. What we lack is a political culture willing to tell the truth, stand up to vested interests, and plan beyond the next election.

Voices of Corio exists because business-as-usual has failed.

Not loudly. Not dramatically. But persistently.

Around the world, the most successful societies tend to share a simple policy foundation: innovation, openness, education and social cohesion. 

Countries as different as Sweden, the Netherlands and New Zealand consistently rank high on wellbeing, trust and economic resilience.

This is not about left or right.

It’s about long-term thinking versus political cowardice.

Corio – and Australia – deserves leaders with the courage to make wiser, and safer, long-term choices.

Republished from Mik Aidt's open.substack.com

Read also: Responsibility. The missing word in politics