You Don't Work For the Government, You Work For The State

Many people in Australia say that they have government jobs, but in reality, these people don’t actually have government jobs. You don’t work for whoever happens to be in government at the time. If you do work for whoever happens to be in government at that time, then yes, you do have a government and have a government. However, when most people say that they work for the government, what they really mean is that they work for what most Australians would call “government owned” services or industries, or whatever. One example of this would be working for Sydney Water, or working for the police, or working for Centrelink. Despite what most Australians would tell you, these are not government owned organisations. Scott Morrison (who was prime minister at the time of me writing these) does not own (Centrelink is the federal government organisation who handles welfare and human services). The Liberal Party (His political party) does not own Centrelink. Centrelink will continue well after he’s ended his prime ministership and will continue to be in the hands of the Australian public irrespective of which party Australia’s next prime minister comes from (unless it’s abolished or privatised in the meantime that is, but that’s a different matter). If the next prime minister is from the Labor Party, or from any other party for that matter, Centrelink will still be a public service, even though the federal government will switch from a Liberal government to a Labor government. Same applies to public sector services in the states/territories, e.g. Sydney Water. If you work for the Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) of New South Wales, for example, you don’t work for the government. You work for the state of New South Wales. The government just happens to be the group of people who’s currently in charge of the organisation. Saying that you work for the government is like saying that you work for Chris Kempczinski when in reality, you work for McDonalds. McDonald’s has existed before Chris Kempczinski was CEO and will most likely continue to exist well after Chris Kempczinski stops being CEO. Similarly, public service organisations have existed well before the current government took office and (unless privatised or abolished) will continue to exist well after the current government leaves office. Further, there are more individuals in these organisation than just the government, just like any company will have more individuals than just the CEO.

So in that case then, what is the state? The state does not exist, at least not in the sense that most people would consider existence to mean. The state is nothing more than vague, arbitrary concept that we all just kind of agree exists, and only exists because the vast majority of us agree that it does. Confused yet? Good, because it’s about to get a lot more confusing. What is the state of Australia (in this concept, state and country are synonymous)? Nothing. The state of Australia does not exist. The country of Australia does not exist. There is no entity of Australia. It’s a vague, arbitrary, non-existent concept. Australia only arbitrarily exists because the vast majority of people arbitrarily agree that Australia does exist. However, at the same time, Australia does exist. If every person on the planet randomly agreed that Australia no longer exists, instantly, just like that. However, paradoxically, countries do exist. Which country you’re in determines every facet of life, the quality of the healthcare you’re likely to receive. What freedoms you do and do not have. What oppression you may or may not be subject to, what human rights are extended to you, your level of poverty, which industries you can and cannot legally work in, which laws your subject to. Everything. Every aspect of your life is entirely dependent on which country you live in, and a country is an entity which does not actually exist. If you’re confused now, then just keep this post in mind for when I get to the post about how many countries there are…