Outside the Box: A Wind of Change

By Pietro Barbara

Buckle up! This is a refreshing, exciting, challenging, fun ride.

Under the license of outside-the-box thinking, the writer has given believable practical alternative answers to most of Australias current challenges.

The overriding intention is to promote outside-the-box thinking, so provoking discussion and debateindeed, any reaction that might facilitate our journey to the next level.

Beginning with the creation of a respectful republic; a new flag; a sensitive, inclusive constitution; and a renewed political system. Addressing the taxation dilemma and offering universal fair retirement and healthcare. Solving the energy, water, and climate change challenges and making a proud place for our First Nation people. Advocating an Australia coming of age on the world stage, putting Australia first in the eyes of all. Then encouraging universal outside the box thinking by touching on other fundamental often contentious issues.

No subject is Taboo Outside-the-Box.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: May 8, 2018
• ISBN: 9781543408140

Book preview

Copyright © 2018 by Pietro BARBARA.

Library of Congress Control Number:     2018903897

ISBN:     Hardcover     978-1-5434-0816-4

Softcover     978-1-5434-0815-7

eBook     978-1-5434-0814-0

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 06/11/2018

Xlibris

1-800-455-039

www.Xlibris.com.au

775341

CONTENTS

Introduction

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1 Level Playing Field

Chapter 2 Energy

Chapter 3 Renewing Australian Politics

Chapter 4 Climate Change

Chapter 5 Indigenous Issues

Chapter 6 Australia Day And Independence Day

Chapter 7 Superannuation And Retirement

Chapter 8 Health Insurance

Chapter 9 Employment Ethics

Chapter 10 Buying A Home

Chapter 11 Education

Chapter 12 Respecting Sexual Preferences

Chapter 13 Gender Issues

Chapter 14 ‘Me Too’

Chapter 15 The Church

Chapter 16 Islam Today

Chapter 17 Taking Life

Chapter 18 Crypto

Chapter 19 Religion

Chapter 20 Defining Australian

Epilogue

About The Website

About The Author

Overdue, controversial, game-changing, outside the box concepts that could improve the lives of Australia for many years to come . . . It’s time for change!

Is this a brave and helpful revelation or just a dream? Only time will tell.

Intentionally brief, and light reading, this work seeks to stimulate, aggravate, and initiate outside-the-box thinking.

You won’t agree with everything herein, but if you are thinking about it and considering it, coming up with alternatives, discussing, growling, crying, or laughing instead of knocking and discouraging, you may be outside the box.

I

dedicate this work to

Salvino (Sam) Barbara—Bam Bam.

He was a thinker.

INTRODUCTION

I was walking through some beautiful untouched native Pilbara bushland near Newman recently, and it struck me that this country deserves a lot better than it’s getting in almost every respect. The thought popped into my head, Poor fellow, my country (see acknowledgements).

About now you will be saying that this guy sounds like a black fella. Well, wrong again. I’m a white bloke with half a brain. That’s according to my dad (bless him), who tested me in many ways. He was a philosopher/cosmologist, educationalist type. My father was about as smooth as a gravel pit and died unrecognised. He wrote books that no one could read. As a devout Catholic, my father even wrote a letter to the pope (before my father died twenty years ago). In a very correct manner, my father suggested to the pope that he had better revisit the whole priest celibacy thing because the clergy are running amok and destroying the church’s credibility. He even charged me with sending his letter to each pope (which I have done) in the hope that one of them will wake up. Hmm! The problem, however, was always that his writing was so well done, complex, lengthy, and complete that you need to be a Rhodes scholar with a cut lunch to get to the end of a sentence. I remember him spending days on a single page.

That’s why I have adopted what I call a round-the-campfire tone.

So keep going. I’ve got a bit to say. I may even be right about a few things. See what you think. This is outside-the-box thinking. Try it.

I’ll do a chapter on the church later, but for now, turn the page, because about now is when I share with you some outside-the-box thoughts on many different topics.

It is most unlikely that all will agree with a lot of what I have to say. That’s great because what I am trying to do is to stimulate discussion and hopefully be a catalyst not only for change but improvement, even reform.

This work is a philosophical opinion piece.

• There is no such thing as a wrong opinion.

• There is only my opinion and your opinion.

• It is hoped that this stimulates you to have an opinion.

• The outside-the-box