I’m one of what seems like hundreds of guests at Melbourne Writer’s Fest, which is on right now. Had my first session last Friday. It was the very first session of the festival actually. 10am on a very chilly morning. ‘Australia Felix’ was the topic. Judith Brett was my co-speaker, and Jeff Sparrow was the chair. And to my relief about 90 people showed up. There’s a lot to be said on where Australia is at right now, and Judith and I were in basic agreement about this being a moment of momentous change. One where, as I argued, the burden of risk has shifted away from business and government and onto the shoulders of ordinary people. But the best bit was the questions from the floor. Lots and lots of them, all very incisive, all very engaged. People are clearly very concerned with the possibility that something in the ‘Australian dream’ has gone missing. As Judith argued, it wasn’t simply the Howard government that caused problems. In fact they were remarkably ineffectual and left something of a policy vacuum behind them. As I argued, the egalitarian ethic that is one of the main things that defines Australian culture, has gone missing in the longer term. The impact of the new conservatism on our culture over the past thirty years has been insidious and telling. It was great to see so many people nodding as we spoke and wanting to have their say. It just adds to my sense that there is a conversation out there that many of us want to have, about what Australia is and where it’s heading. I’ve got more sessions coming up next weekend on the media (7.15, Aug 30) and climate change (1.15, Aug 31). Hopefully people will get out and come to those as well. There’s lots to talk about.