Steve Price: Young Australians are waking up to the fact the radical left has failed them

As I celebrated my 70th birthday this week I was buoyed by the fact it is clear growing numbers of young Australians are waking up to the fact the radical left has failed them.

A significant birthday has a way of forcing some serious soul searching for all of us.

Turning 70 this past Monday, the milestone made me take a moment and embrace the past while wondering what 2025 and beyond will bring.

Despite all the negativity swirling around Australia and the world I believe there is plenty of hope for a better future and that hope lies in the hands of our youngsters.

Young people around the world are starting to wake up to the fact that soft political leadership and woke, me-too-ism has gone too far.

They are starting to realise that the hard and soft left, the tribalism, and woke group think has done them no favours at all.

Climate change, global warming and the national suicide mission that is 100 per cent renewables on an island continent rich in resources are going to smash their futures with inflated prices for unreliable energy.

The majority of young Australians want to celebrate Australia Day on January 26. Picture: Supplied

Immigration numbers running at unsustainable rates are going to continue to force up house and flat/unit prices making it impossible to realise the great Australian dream of home ownership.

Crowded capital cities like Melbourne mean the idea of house with a front and backyard, room for a garden, a lawn and maybe one day a pool for the kids to play in are, if not already gone, vanishing fast.

Crippling university debt, run up when everyone was told you had to get a degree, mean the banks won’t lend anyone the money to buy a house without help from mm and dad.

There is hope though as you realise around the world that the public are voting with their feet and getting rid of politicians more interested in gender identity than grocery prices, climate change than cost of living and social engineering rather than social cohesion.

Our young generation – I have two daughters in their mid-twenties – are certainly worried about the planet and lecture me about having conservative views, but they also agree crime is out of control, fuelled by weak political leaders and a stacked judicial system staffed by do-good magistrates and pathetically weak bail laws.

Growing numbers of young people are waking up to the impact of mass immigration. Picture: David Crosling

Young people are also waking up to the radical left Australian Greens party that now is nothing more than a bunch of anarchists stoking anti-Semitism and angry political messages about taking from the wealthy to hand it to the poor and bashing Israel at every opportunity.

My optimism may well be misplaced but I very seriously get a sense that there is a shift right around the world.

Young people want to be inspired by political leadership, and they don’t want to be the bad luck, left-behind generation, blaming the baby boomers for all their problems.

They want what you and I had.

They are starting to realise – finally – that welcoming people to their own country every five minutes at every two-bit event is doing no-one any good, especially the Australians who live in remote Aboriginal communities rife with domestic violence and child abuse, fuelled by drugs and alcohol.

Poll after poll shows Australians in the majority want Australia Day celebrated on January 26 under one, not three, four or even five different flags.

Just this week the keep Australia Day on the 26th number topped 60 per cent, with a lot of that vote from youngsters.

Sensibly they voted for marriage equality but not the divisive Voice idea.

That result also saw over 60 per cent voting No, crushing PM Albanese’s failed attempt to divide his Australia by race.

Greens leaders like Adam Bandt offer young people nothing but angry political messages. Picture: Martin Ollman

At the same time young Australians are sick and tired of being lectured to by virtue-signalling corporates and sporting bodies like the AFL and Woolworths.

As 2024 closed out I travelled from Brisbane to Adelaide by train and the mood I picked up was one of frustrating discontent.

The message was clear – why in a country so rich and lucky as us, are we in such a mess?

Covid didn’t help and control freaks like Daniel Andrews and Anastasia Palaszcuk made it worse by locking people up unnecessarily simply because they could, and robbing those in their late teens of two years growing up.

Many of the passengers on that trip were in my age bracket and mostly retired.

To a man and woman, they said they hardly recognised the Australia that we live in today.

As we start 2025, we might be just weeks out from a federal election, at worst a couple of months.

The winners will be the party that can convince all of us that there are better times coming.

Not with expensive handouts and bribes, but with a vision for a return to the Australia we used to have.

A happy go lucky Australia where hard work gave you the leg up you needed to build a life for yourself that didn’t rely on government handouts.

It won’t be easy but just as the vibe around Australia Day is shifting, so too is the mood against authoritarian governments splashing taxpayers’ money around with no thought about debt and repayment.

Tim Pallas, I’m looking at you and your mate Daniel Andrews.

Young people want the same opportunity for housing as older generations. Picture: Supplied

So as a 70-year-old who has been working full time since I was 17 – that’s 53 years — across newspapers, radio and TV – I’ve watched the country in great times, sad times and grim times.

On the week I was born in January 1955 my hometown of Adelaide endured Black Sunday.

The temperature hit 43C at 1pm, causing massive bushfires that burned 40,000 hectares killing two firefighters and leaving a damage bill of four million pounds.

Today that fire would be blamed on climate change and global warming.

Back then no excuses — it was summer, it was hot, and it was Australia.

A footnote of trivia – also born in 1955 and turning 70 this year, are singer songwriter Paul Kelly, actor Judy Davis, golfing great Greg Norman, cricket legend Alan Border and sadly my dearly departed mate David Hookes.

Likes

— Generous praise from my Channel Ten Project workmates on my 70th on Monday night.

— The viaduct precinct in the New Zealand city of Auckland; clean with brilliant garden installations, no graffiti and great food.

— Kiwi’s battered oysters and cheese scones with turmeric – simple and delicious.

Dislikes

— Ex- State Treasurer Tim Pallas and his extravagant travel bill on the taxpayers’ expense.

— High St Windsor Tuesday morning where a dozen trucks from a worksite completely ignored the inbound clearway signs just after 7am while norm al vehicles were towed.

— Melbourne airport causing parking chaos over Christmas New Year with half the short-term carpark closed.

Originally published as Steve Price: Young Australians are waking up to the fact the radical left has failed them