I can pinpoint the exact moment Australia lost its sense of national unity. But first, let’s rewind a bit. 
 
Remember the early pandemic days, just before lockdown? Australia was in panic mode; uncertainty was everywhere. Supermarkets turned into battlefields over toilet paper, and I vividly recall an incident at Officeworks: a young mother clutching her baby, arguing fiercely with someone over a box of Glen20. We all have stories from those times, each one a powerful reminder of how fear can drive us apart. 
 
In July 2020, the Federal Department of Health called on a small team, including myself, to urgently media-train Australia’s Chief Medical Officers. Our job was to train and reshape the national narrative (small job). We needed to move Australians away from individual panic (“That’s my toilet paper!”) toward empathy and collective responsibility. 
 
The solution? Stories. Powerful stories tapping into the uniquely Australian spirit of mateship and resilience: 
 
– We’ve seen the media interviews of the resilient Queenslanders in the height of floods with an arm hanging off saying, “It could be worse. Betty lost her dog.”  
– Or the Victorians and New South Welsh(wo)men while completely engulfed by flames and having lost everything, saying, “It’s a bit warm – but Dougs lost his pub, it’s a tragedy. We’re all going down tomorrow to help him rebuild it” 
– The South and Western Australians are constantly getting bitten by sharks then tell us how good the fishing is.  
– Finally, the Tasmanians and Territorians are few but mighty, controlling the reptilian crocodiles in the north and the human political variety in the south.  
 
Our message leveraged these stories, urging everyone to think of vulnerable loved ones and neighbours. The message was simple yet powerful: Stay home for them. 
 
It worked. Australians responded with remarkable compassion, solidarity, and calm. 
 
But then came the second wave, and everything changed. State borders closed. Rules fractured and diverged. And suddenly, Australia felt less united. We began defining ourselves by our states, not our country. This was the moment our national unity fractured, and I fear we’ve yet to recover fully. 
 
Whoever wins the next federal election has an important task: to remind us of what truly binds us together as Australians. Aside from the annual Lamb ad (consistently brilliant!), how else can we rekindle that sense of national unity?