As another year comes to a close, I often reflect on the events that have transpired, both good and bad, and gauge what is to come in future – what lies ahead for 2026?

If it is to be anything like 2025, it appears whenever the country takes two steps forward, something forces us yet again, three steps back. 2025 is proof that a ‘progressive’ government is damaging the country and sending everyone backwards, culturally, politically, and economically.

There is no sense of direction whatsoever under a Labor government. No wonder people are feeling disillusioned.

We have seen One Nation support rise in 2025, Liberal leadership splinter in most states and appear to not know what it stands for, and we have seen the Labor government booed all around at Bondi vigils.

The country is utterly fed up.

People could hardly wait to crack open the Christmas treats and put the entire calamity that was 2025, behind them. Many are left wondering, what is the year ahead going to look like? Can we endure another 365 days of Labor, our globalist oligarchs, technocrats, Big Pharma, and the military industrial complex?

Simply ‘surviving’ has turned into the new common goal for most people in this nation.

Without a doubt, Australians have had a hectic year, and nationally, we have been through a lot – the Bondi Massacre that killed 15 individuals for one, was an incredibly tragic end to the year that somehow compounded the already existing grief following the harrowing assassination of one of my heroes, Charlie Kirk. We also saw American activists banned from the country, conservative pro-women advocates such as Kirralie Smith and Sall Grover, dragged through the courts – we have seen frightening protests on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, detrimental new Voluntary Assisted Dying and surrogacy legislation coming into effect, plus the under 16s social media ban, which the government cannot even seem to enforce. We have also seen major hate speech laws implemented.

It appears 2025 has brought a major crack down on our communications ability. Not only that, but this year people are feeling utterly disarmed and powerless to defend themselves as there was a machete ban in Victoria, and a gun buyback following the Bondi massacre – WA has also implemented some of the strictest gun laws the country.

Australia has somehow been pulled into more foreign conflicts despite having no cash – we have sent troops to aid Ukraine as Islamic violence erupts in our very own tourist hubs. I personally believe the way forward is to de-escalate foreign tensions, not inflame them. What has stoking the Middle Eastern conflict done for us, except for resulting in the largest terror attack we have seen since Port Arthur? Sometimes you need to look after your own backward before you seek to look after anyone else’s.

It is 2025, yet 1984 swiftly approaches, as the year winds to a close.

On the upside, some good things have undoubtedly happened and they provide a glimmer of hope in an otherwise dystopian climate. We have seen puberty blockers banned – and in Queensland this suspension has been prolonged until at least 2031. This is a major win for children. On the 21st, the Northern Territory also banned them.

We have also seen the Libs bin ‘Net Zero’ which is a good start, although they have a long way to go in terms of reforming the party back to its completely conservative and Menzian roots. We celebrated our 110th Anzac commemoration and made the Guinness World Records for the largest centenarian, ‘elderly population’ gathering at NSW Parliament; our population is aging which is a sign our healthcare system is actually one of the best in the world. We have done relatively well, in recreational and arts events, so not all has been an absolute flop for us…

But let’s be honest, last year was still an utter disaster – it has been a poorly produced Tarantino movie on 27 million legs. In fact, could things get any worse?

I for one, found myself dragging my feet towards the end – I think a decent break and a new start might do us all some good. Why am I feeling like this Christmas period provides the ‘respite’ one needs during an actual war? Our times are moving into a battle-like climate, put frankly. A friend of mine recently told me she was having to put the family on ‘rations’ just to get through the year as conservatives are doing it tough when they are booted out of jobs and are forced to somehow manage their home life as well as their finances, since the government provides little back, for all the tax they take from us.

Not only are people feeling the economic pinch, but there has also been some friction amongst conservatives over various political issues this year – as the issues pile up, so does the conflict. Who agrees on everything, one hundred per cent of the time? Our times call for greater communication, abundant patience, collaboration and something more than politics to actually maintain the necessary social glue to hold this country together…

What this nation really needs is a sense of shared moral or spiritual purpose. A united goal; a shared sense of family. This is really what the country needs going into 2026, otherwise I fear the nation will rightly collapse. Families fight, but they make up. The same lifeblood flows through family members that keeps them together through thick and thin and I think conservatives, figuratively speaking, need the ‘shared blood of the Australian spirit’ flowing through our veins to keep the country from falling to pieces in the years to come.

On that patriotic note, another milestone this year was the publication of Tony Abbott’s book, which I reviewed, and was thrilled to get signed when I met him in Sydney. When I asked him for an interview to discuss the pitfalls of multiculturalism, he said yes! That book cannot have been published at a better time – a time where Australians are thirsty for the truth, and for a sense of shared guidance for the future. Abbott and Pauline Hanson were also photographed together at a Christmas party hosted by the Institute of Public Affairs. The photo, posted by Abbott on his social media, gave me hope – because Abbott, a Liberal, is demonstrating that what this country actually needs is unity – not greater political and cross-party division that has existed in the past.

In hindsight, I believe this year has taught me that human decency needs to be revived, if 2026 is to be successful and there is no other way to do this, other than to be a decent human yourself, and model that behaviour in politics so that others also realise that when it comes to war strategy, and ‘winning’ sometimes ‘decency’ is what attracts the outcome you want. It is time Australia learned from the harsh lessons of the past. Doing, thinking and being more of the ‘same’’ is not enough to salvage this country. Doing as we have done in the past, with no self-reflection or self-criticism, is unlikely to get the results we need.

As the year closes I would like to challenge myself and you, to be the best version of yourself as you are capable of being, because anything less is probably and realistically not enough to win our country back. Our times are set to get tougher, and this means we all have to be better, if we want to make it through.

With that I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a fulfilling New Year ahead. It’s time to kick 1984 back into the past, where it frankly belongs.