b o'farrell has fixed the drunks, page-18

When is this society going to react intelligently to its social problems. You can remove the alcohol but the violence isn't going away. People don't respect each other because that is the paradigm of the neoliberal self-interested world we live in. A world of winners, losers and socioeconomic inequality. We have all been conditioned, according to the corporate model, to see ourselves as economic individuals whose sole motivation is self-interest.

Compassion, respect and empathy have no place in the business world and now most of us have come to reflect that ethos. In modern Australia, nice guys finish last, having qualities which give them a lesser economic value. Our young people simply embody the harsh non-humanistic paradigm in which they live. I see it everywhere, in all ages, but combined with the toxic mix of youth and hedonism, it leads to senseless violence.