Lara and Rhea are preparing for a Rostrum speech that they will deliver next week – Rhea on the subject of Teamwork and Lara on Being Organised. Lara is practicing now as I write this at the holiday house we’re staying at for the long weekend. It’s so nice to have a break by the sea, the house has ocean views, two levels on a hill, built perhaps thirty years ago with beach-inspired blue and white furniture, lamps, framed messages and decorative vessels, including the odd carved whale and whale-shaped cushion. And a few vases with fake proteas and magnolias, I don’t mind them.
It hasn’t been so long since our last holidays in April, but I have been very busy both at work and maintaining the garden at our old house for sale, and hence a bit exhausted. Swimming in the sea today, playing cards, reading books and magazines and sleeping in have all been restorative activities. Being here while it’s warm weather and with mum (recently recovered from her heart operation), dad and Marcus, as well as with the girls and Steve has been relaxing too.
It’s nice to stop for a few days and take stock, particularly given that this week has been a time of change for our country. I remember when Julia Gillard became Prime Minister almost twelve years ago, I wheeled the girls in from the special care nursery to witness it – not sure if they were even awake. Then I think it was their third birthday when the wheels fell off and Julia Gillard was replaced in the face of sexist-fuelled dissent from inside and outside her party. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a labor government, nine years, and it looks like Grace Tame, Brittany Higgins, the Me Too! Movement and educated women and young people refusing to accept the status quo have contributed to this significant shift in the composition of our parliament.
This new team come from a place of kindness and empathy. They have started by releasing the Sri Lankan family who have been in detention away from their adopted community in Biloela for more than three years now. I wonder whether the new Government will increase Jobseeker payment to a livable amount and whether they will give refugees in Australia certainty and security by ending temporary protection visas. So many things a government can do, that fundamentally affect the lives of their people.
These last months with the invasion of the Ukraine, the Taliban retaking Afghanistan and a return to restricting abortion rights in the US have really driven home to me the fact that history is not linear, we have to fight and then keep fighting for our human rights, and they can be removed. Of all the moments in history that we could live in, and all the places, our lifetime in Australia could be argued to be the most lucky. This won’t necessarily continue for us, we need to help create and protect the world we want.
In terms of teamwork, Rhea reminds us through her example of her netball team that ‘your team will listen and help suggest some better changes or improvements to add. They also encourage you when you’re playing by shouting out encouragement.’ Lara recognizes that the benefits of being organised include that ‘if you start early and organise it, you’ll have more time to do it and it’ll be better, and you won’t get as stressed about it.’
Teamwork and being organised are indeed core skills for our lives, along with empathy and curiosity. It is important to be building and rebuilding them now.
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