14/07/2025
Someone recently asked me why I am critical of 'WOKEISM' in my talk, The Truth About Our Vanishing Koalas. At the start of my talk I explain that now is the time where we must be brave and courageous when we talk about what is happening to our country, to us and our wildlife. It's very easy for the 'extreme woke' person to turn a candid conversation into judgement, aggression, or claim superiority.
Let me be clear from the start — I believe in fairness. I believe in inclusion, in kindness, in lifting people up. I always have. But I’ve also lived long enough — and been in enough real-world trenches — to know the difference between real change and empty performance. And what we’re seeing now, in the name of progress, is not always helping. In fact, I’d go so far as to say extreme wokeism is making us weak.
It’s well-meaning, yes. But when we start treating discomfort as danger, and difference of opinion as hate speech, we’re not building a strong society — we’re building a fragile one. Growth doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It happens when we engage, when we’re challenged, when we wrestle with new perspectives. That takes guts.
And here’s the thing — fear is replacing dialogue. I see people second-guessing themselves constantly, terrified of saying the “wrong thing,” even if their heart’s in the right place. How can we build community when everyone’s walking on eggshells? How do we innovate when people are too scared to speak up?
We’ve gone from calling people in, to calling them out — and then cancelling them completely. Is that really how we create change? I’ve seen good people, decent people, thrown under the bus for a poorly phrased sentence or an opinion that didn’t tick all the right boxes. There’s no space for learning, for growth. Just judgement. Punishment. Exile.
And don’t get me started on how we’re now told that merit is oppressive. As a woman who’s had to fight tooth and nail in male-dominated industries, I know the value of opportunity — but I also know the power of capability. Identity matters, yes. But effort, integrity, and grit matter too.
Extreme wokeism doesn’t unite — it divides. We end up siloed, labelled, boxed in by categories instead of connected through shared humanity. And ironically, in the pursuit of “inclusion,” we start excluding anyone who doesn’t conform to the current script — even when their heart is in the right place.
I’m not saying throw out compassion. I’m saying we’ve lost balance. We’ve confused sensitivity with strength. And we’re at risk of raising a generation that’s emotionally unprepared for the world — because they’ve been taught that every difficulty is trauma and every disagreement is an attack.
It’s time we grew up a little. We need real courage, not curated outrage. We need leaders who can have uncomfortable conversations without flinching — and communities that don’t fall apart at the first sign of friction.
Kindness and critical thinking can co-exist. In fact, they must. Because the world doesn’t need more slogans — it needs brave, thoughtful people willing to do the hard work of change.
Let’s not be so “woke” we fall asleep at the wheel. Let’s get grounded. Let’s get real. And let’s get on with building a society that’s resilient, respectful, and ready for what’s next.
Never be afraid to speak the truth.
