Letting a new generation become adults without some guidance good or not so good is more destructive than even wrong guidance.
Without exposure to discipline, a runaway mentality lured by irresponsible & selfish behaviour has already proven to be the result. If people think this is how they want their young to go down the gurgler then so be it but don't be surprised when others with a better mentality burr up & deliver the valid consequences

Leave it to the family/parents. There is too much government meddling in lives now. Everything governments do that is not part of their narrow core responsibilities always turns out to be disastrous.

The same governments are also responsible for the pressure on parents that prevents them from spending time raising their kids properly.

The last thing this country needs is more government dictatorship. They are already ruining kids in the public school system; and they are totally incapable of providing the guidance that Indyvidual believes is lacking.

And while on the family, Family First is group that will have candidates in the next election. And, no, I don't have any personal connection with them, nor do I give them money. But they are the only group who are for the family - the backbone of society - and basic Australian values.

ttbn,
Agee with that also & it is now a chicken-egg scenario. What should come first, prevention or retribution ?
I'm a prevention is better than cure kind of bloke. Authorities won't improve until the incompetent are replaced by the guidance that a NS provides. A twelve months Gap year/NS is the solution & not as many claim, an enforced denial of liberty.
Even wild animals have discipline !

"The last thing this country needs is more government dictatorship."
- Then the community needs to do more to look out for the community;
How do we do that when everyone is divided against everyone else?

Dear Indyvidual,

I see that you still go round and round to avoid a simple Yes/No question.

I must therefore assume that your answer is an uncomfortable 'Yes', that your proposal is a form of conscription in every sense except that it does not involve military service.

It is clear from your response that you only care for your "society" and are happy to sacrifice the individuals that constitute it and throw them to the dogs if need be.

You seem to be so deluded to believe that it would be possible for you to snatch and lock up about half a million of innocent children at a time without them and their parents and families resisting, without them breaking free - even with the outside aid of their parents and all others who care for them. You are not even proposing to lock them up in lonely high-security concrete cells that are hard to escape, but to let them work outdoors, building roads and dams, even having access to heavy machinery and yet you think you could find enough guards to stop them escaping.

You think you can stop all the mothers of these children from fighting like lionesses and be even sacrificing their lives in order to save their children?

You consider all young people undisciplined because you do not recognise any other form of discipline except that which would forcibly indoctrinate children with your own particular dogmas.

You think you will prevent these children from becoming criminals, but instead you will create generations of terrorists seeking revenge over the cruel institutions which locked them up as slaves through no fault of their own other than being born in Australia, generators of bitter youths killing their tormentors and blowing up those dams they were forced to build.

Other than terrorists, some normal innocent and disciplined good boys and girls would be helplessly exposed in those camps to the undisciplined juvenile delinquents you speak of and learn their criminal skills from them.

That kind of society you envision or wish to protect, deserves to die!

That wonderful example of democracy, Burma - whose military locked up up a 78 year old woman for 33 years because she got more votes than they did - has resurrected its 14 year old conscription law. Males 18-35, three years: females 18-27, 2 years; doctors up to 45, 7 years.

I'm certainly not suggesting that Indyvidual is OK with that sort of thing; nor am I suggesting that an Australian government would be that bad - NOW. But it's what could happen if we, the voters, don't take more notice, and start looking for a much better class of politician than we have now.

If you're interested, Aung San Suu Kyi has been in jail since 2021 - this time - and has had her original sentence reduced from 33 years to 27 years. She is seriously ill, and continues to be denied medical treatment.

We must not let our politicians give themselves more power than they have over our lives, which is too much already. Voters are the ones with the power, if only they will exert it.