Andrew Leigh (1) (1972–)

Amongst the many things we've all learned from Covid-19, is that it's been easier for some people to stay connected than for others, and so this book, obviously conceived before the pandemic but completed during the first part of this strange year 2020, is timely.

Andrew Leigh is a Federal Labor MP, and Nick Terrell is his adviser, and all politicians know the electoral value of being keyed into the needs and concerns of their communities. They often know, better than anyone, where their community groups are and how well they are functioning. The 'newsletter' I get from my current federal MP always features the same old staples: a visit to an aged care home, the RSL, a multicultural event, a school, and planting a tree somewhere. I'd love to see him out at the Synchrotron admiring some new research, or inspecting some innovative design in a factory somewhere, and I bet these things are happening, but they don't make it into their daggy newsletter template. I suspect it's because it's thought to be more important to show connection with the community...

The first two chapters of this book develop the concern. The first chapter is about social capital, and how it's just as important as physical capital and human capital, and 'Dissecting the Disconnection Disaster' charts the ways in which modern life has reduced the ways in which we connect with each other. The research shows that there has been a marked decline since previous eras: these days, fewer people join organisations, go to church, volunteer, donate to worthy causes, play team sport, know their neighbours or participate in political activity and they spend far too much time on their phones, especially teenagers. There's an epidemic of loneliness. We all know that, even if some of the stats are more alarming than we knew.

(The one surprising piece of information was that there's a decline in the number of Australians willing to do government surveys. The authors argue that the cost of failing to fill out surveys is both national and local. If they don't have the data to inform decisions, then funding calculated on population counts from surveys isn't allocated where it should be. This argument would have more credibility with me if I didn't know that years of data from the tests inflicted on schoolchildren have been completely ignored and school funding continues to be directed where it is not needed. We have forests of reports and data about homelessness and nobody does anything about that either.)

But the authors say:

The goal of this book is not to write the eulogy for Australian civic life. It is to get the patient back to good health. (p.9)

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2020/12/07/reconnected-a-community-builders-handbook-by...… (plus d'informations)