AUSTRALIANS like to think of themselves as rugged and independent sorts, people capable of fending for themselves.
The national narrative, with its tales of inventive and resourceful outback men and women, further entrenches this idealised version of ourselves.
The harsh reality, however, is that a lack of personal accountability is threatening to create a nation of over-cosseted brats incapable of making their own decisions.
Unless we start to accept personal responsibility for our actions unwelcome cultural practices, such as the cult of litigation so prevalent in the US or the stereotypical British over-regulation will continue to choke us.
Nowhere is the problem more pronounced than here in rural Australia.
Over-regulation already has placed a massive burden on country communities, traditionally powered by volunteer labour.
The amount of red tape required to run community groups is pushing already over-worked volunteers to breaking point.
And yet you cannot blame Governments for looking to protect itself given the ever-increasing propensity of people to look to blame others or to push for ludicrous levels of compliance.
Examples are everywhere, from the man suing a museum for falling off a treadmill through to a restaurant being closed because a neighbor could not handle the smell of grilling steak.
It may well seem like just a little bit of trivia, a chuckle around the smoko table in the morning but the impacts are far more insidious.
There are real cases of long-term community events, highlights of the calendar for many, being wound up because of crippling public liability insurance, groups folding because of the volume of paperwork required and businesses not expanding because of the cost of compliance.
The people taking this type of action need to realise it has an influence on more than the directly affected parties – gradually this attitude puts its stamp across our society as a whole.
Let’s get this straight – all protective legislation is well intentioned and people have a right to be protected from danger both in the workplace and at leisure.
It is just in trying to do the right thing in terms of providing safe environments we are now at a point where not having an ergonomic cushion is as big a deal as sending a young apprentice to work at heights without an appropriate harness.
The over-regulation has two negative impacts, not only curtailing activities of generally benign activities but also allowing rogue operators a cop-out, saying that they did not comply with serious safety requirements as it had been lost in the reams of paperwork.
It may be a forlorn cry, but those who visit other countries see people treated as adults in terms of their decision making.
There are risks out there in day to day life and people need to assess those risks when making their decisions.
Our current framework of wrapping the population up in cotton wool to stop every last scratch can only be compared to ‘helicopter’ parents always hovering around their children to make sure nothing goes wrong –in the short term it stops the tears but in the long term there is no growth.