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VALUES & WHAT WE CHOOSE TO STAND FOR CAA Comment: This article, reprinted with kind permission from Heston Russell, the founder of the Australian Values Party, is a must-read for every Australian who cares about their country, our culture and our values. There is also sage advice on how the Police should go about recruiting.
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| What happened in Bondi was an act of terror and mass murder. Innocent people were killed while going about their lives, and families and a community have been shattered.
Moments like this rightly stop a nation – but they also test us. In 2021, I raised the Australian Values Party for a simple reason: Australia relies not only on laws, but on morals and ethics – the standards that shape how laws are written, interpreted, and enforced. During my time in the Special Forces, when I was responsible for running the Commando Selection Course, we selected people almost entirely on values. Skills could be trained. Fitness could be built. Tactics could be taught. Get the values right, and together you can train the right people, build the right culture, and achieve extraordinary outcomes. Values define identity. Many Australians may not know this, but the Department of Home Affairs already has an Australian Values Statement – and it is not symbolic. Every person entering Australia on a temporary visa, and every applicant progressing through to permanent residency, is required as a literal part of their visa processing to read, sign, and agree to this Values Statement. Ironically, many people born here have never seen it. The Australian Government’s Values Statement includes a commitment to:
These values already exist. They are agreed to. The United States has a Bill of Rights. Religions have commandments.
These values are not about religion or ideology. They include freedom of religion – but not before commitment to the rule of law, and respect for the freedom and dignity of the individual. What we are seeing now – politicians fumbling for words, grasping at policy responses, defaulting to symbolic gestures or rushed fixes – is what happens when leaders are not anchored in clear, shared values. Many likely don’t even know these values already exist. Agreed values must be known, communicated, understood, accepted – and enforced. Tragedies like Bondi also expose bias – particularly political bias. It hasn’t taken long to see people using this moment to attack. To be clear: I don’t care much for Anthony Albanese at all. If we are serious about preventing this from happening again, then we need to examine the entire chain – honestly and without fear. That means asking how:
Those questions matter because risk does not exist in isolation. Accountability doesn’t stop at the front counter. Before rushing to impose broad new restrictions on millions of law-abiding Australians, we should first identify where the system failed, who made those decisions, and why – and then hold those responsible properly to account. Anything less is politics, not leadership. Finally, a word of caution. In the aftermath of violence, vultures appear – in media, in politics and online. Trauma becomes a tool. Fear becomes currency. Division becomes profitable. We owe the victims and their families more than noise. That starts – and ends – with values. Sincerely, Heston |
IN THE WAKE OF BONDI BEACH
Well stated and i new nothing of this
Weak inefficient policies and politicians
What a fantastically well articulated article. This sums up exactly where we are right now and how we got here. But most I,portantly, a s throng and clear way forward. This bloke should be leading this Nation!
One hundred percent right.
They have ticked the box to say they have a values statement – that’s about it.
Now is the time to hold the Commonwealth government to account as outlined by Heston.
What Shocks me most is the fact that no protective gear was available, costing a young 22-year old constable an eye.
I am not surprised that there is a petition going round demanding Albanese’s resignation.
I absolutely agree with your sentiment.
Extremely well articulated Heston , we need smart politicians to institute this. Most people in Australia would not know the existence of this statement of values , including my husband & I . This needs to be taught in schools , integrated into the education system. How do we attract intelligent people into politics because at the moment there are too many dumb politicians out there including the prime minister , he is way our of his depth.
The core problem is our immigration intake. When the source countries for our immigrants were in Europe, Australia experienced little problems with their settlement as they arrived with one simple goal: to secure freedom for themselves and a bright future for their children. Australia has benefitted tremendously from this post war cultural diversity of people with similar culture, including religion.
The governing principle for immigration intake should be based on the selection of people who would be committed to advancing our cultural, economic and political aspirations. Only people who would be loyal to Australia, our people, our laws, people sharing our democratic principles, should be afforded the privilege to settle in this country.
Serious consideration must be given to deporting those people found guilty of spreading hate and encouraging terrorist acts against any segment of our population.
In its recently announced five key steps to combat antisemitism by the Federal Government, the word “deportation” is sadly missing.
Seen Albo history a leopard dosent change his spots
Well articulated, but I would suggest that “values” tend to be fleeting, in that they are not cast in stone and tend to change over time.
Surely we are mature enough as a society and as a nation that we should have a Constitutionally enshrined Bill of Rights. Now that would be a document that would incorporate our values as a society, and protect our Democracy from knee-jerk reactions by future politicians (who are clearly not infallible).
Not bad but Russell does what all pollies do – skirt around the actual problem which is Islam.
Islam is at its heart fundamentally incompatible with Western Society, the madmen (and women) who commit these atrocities are just very devout Muslims doing what the Koran exhorts them to do, it is as simple as that. Even the Turkish and Pakistani Prime Ministers have stated this.
“There is no such thing as moderate Islam or radical Islam. There is only one Islam” – Said by Imran Khan in 2019, who added that this Islam gives complete rights to minorities.
“There is no moderate or immoderate Islam. Islam is Islam and that’s it.” – Said by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who also called the term “moderate Islam” an “ugly and offensive” Western fabrication designed to weaken the religion.
When Islam is a tiny minority there are very few problems with its adherents, the larger the population the more problems, unless stopped it will eventually take over a society, that has happened in many countries around the world.
The only real solution is to permanently stop all Islamic Immigration and encourage those already here to self repatriate, if that means paying them to leave, let it be done, it will be cheap in the long term. I’ll leave the last word to Winston Churchill.
“How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries, improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.
A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement, the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.
Individual Muslims may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.”
Churchill saw it coming and our idiots pollies invited it in.