12 reasons why Australia is magnificent, courtesy of Angela Mollard

AUSTRALIANS have been infected with the whinge virus. We need a self-esteem transplant. So Angela Mollard is here to remind us of what makes our country magnificent.

A FRIEND of mine who’s a psychologist has this strategy to help kids who are a bit down on themselves.

She gets them to staple together a few sheets of A4 and make a book entitled Things I Can Do. They draw pictures of themselves skateboarding or cuddling their dog or figuring out their times tables which, when compiled and read aloud, do wonders for their sense of self-worth.

We need to do the same as a nation. After yet another journey with a taxi driver recycling the bleats of the miserable radio commentariat, I reckon we’re badly in need of a self-esteem transplant.

Yes, the Gillard/Rudd shenanigans were demoralising but we, yes, WE, rid ourselves of that. So why 10 months and an Indian summer-turned-winter later are we still afflicted by the whinge virus?

It’s over, Kevin. It’s over.

Here is 12 Things We Can Do, compiled on an 18 degree day with the sun streaming in the window. They’re just a clutch of small stories, but collectively they tell a bigger one.

1. We spearhead progress

Our army chief, Lieutenant General David Morrison, owned the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in London with his impassioned speech arguing that we are squandering women’s talent.

Militaries that excluded women, he argued, “do nothing to distinguish the soldier from the brute.” A British journo friend attending the summit emailed me last Friday night in awe: “He’s dynamite Ange … amazing speech … quoting Kennedy … got more applause than Angelina Jolie.” But was it widely reported here? No.

2. We are joyously hospitable

While I was dining with my book publicist, she revealed that on a recent Australian tour with the American writer Lionel Shriver, a woman came up to the We Need To Talk About Kevin author to ask if she’d like to come around for dinner.

Apparently the woman was Tim Winton’s mum, and while Shriver hesitated, author Richard Flanagan, who was signing books alongside her, confirmed the woman was indeed the mother of our greatest literary talent. Shriver enthusiastically accepted.

American author Lionel Shriver.

3. We try to make ourselves better

The recent ICAC inquiry into corruption revealed the deceit and arrogance of our elected politicians. But while other countries turn a blind eye to such deception, we root it out and reveal it for all to see.

Likewise, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is not just an acknowledgment of our failing, but our commitment to caring harder.

4. We’re old school when it matters

When kids broke into a Kimberley radio station and went live on air with an impromptu show full of swearing, the authorities didn’t press charges and thereby ruin their futures. Instead they got them to perform “sorry tasks” and, I daresay, smiled inwardly at their ingenuity.

5. Others think we’re great

Last week, US President Barack Obama commended us on our gun control laws, pointing out that we hadn’t had a single mass shooting since the crackdown on gun violence in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre.

The OECD thinks we’re pretty fab, voting us top of the Better Life Index for four years running. Likewise, every blow-in that comes to judge one of our panoply of singing shows ends up wanting to stay.

We’d happily take Ricky Martin and the Maddens. Mel B ... not so much.

US President Barack Obama is a big fan of Australia. As he should be.

6. You can buy lunch for $2.50

Thanks to the ubiquitous sausage sizzle at every fete, charity and sporting event — not to mention that citadel to male delusion, Bunnings — you can live on the square root of nothing. Well, unless you need vitamins.

7. People are fundamentally good

Teenagers are hardwired into the selfishness grid, but they can surprise. A friend was watching her son’s inter-school cross country this week when the likely winner keeled over with stitch. A boy from another school stopped to urge him on then ran alongside him to the end where they came in 4th and 6th, both making the cut for the regional comp.

8. We can perv at the Royals and pretend they are ours

But the moment they’re in a bit of bother — toe sucking/Tampongate/Prince Harry pretends he’s a Nazi — we can laugh from afar and be grateful we don’t have to pay for them.

The Royals are ours ... when we want them.

9. We’re self-reliant

Joe Hockey may paint us as a bunch of bludgers to get his budget slashing over the line, but in the past decade, the number of 18 to 64 year-olds who received welfare payments has dropped from 23 per cent to 18.5 per cent, according to the respected HILDA report out this week. The Treasurer needs to spin a new tale.

10. We have mangoes

And because they’re seasonal, we love them even more.

11. We’re jocks

Not only did we hold the best Olympics, but we currently boast the best cricket Test side in the world, the Wallabies have won seven games in a row and the Hockeyroos are squaring up to be world beaters in time for Rio.

We’d have done a nice job with the 2022 FIFA World Cup too if Qatar hadn’t bribed ... err, won the bid.

12. We have Warnie

A man as entertaining as tinned spaghetti is reliable.

On ya, Warnie.

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Twitter: @angelamollard