11 December, 2016. 14:23
ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
QUICK TO SQUINT AND rub his eyes whenever his children come to him with his problems, Steven Collie wonders how his adult children will ever be able to survive on their own.
Speaking to The Advocate from his waterfront St Lucia compound on Brisbane’s Lower West Side, the 69-year-old retired property developer revealed to journalists this afternoon that despite all he’s done to try to raise confident, brave and successful kids, he feels that Millennials have ‘dropped the baton’ in general.
“The biggest thing for me was participation trophies, that was the beginning of the biggest social crop failure in this country’s history,” he said. “I mean, my son grew up in Brisbane, but played soccer? Who let that happen? Soccer doesn’t make a man, it was only introduced to this country to keep the wogs occupied between church and work.”
“Then they whinge and whine about the property market, the bleaching reef, the whole having-to-pay-for-university-bullshit. I tell you what they didn’t have to deal with? Communism. The fear of being wiped out at any moment! And the Vietnam War, which I didn’t go to or be affected by in any way, shape or form.”
However, quick to muffle his father’s sentiments, son Jacob says that for all his faults and shortcomings, there’s a bigger picture that his father’s ignoring.
The 28-yerar-old Hutchinson Builders project manager said that he’s tried to enter Brisbane’s hyper-competitive property market and wants to volunteer his time to help save The Reef, but can’t find the time.
“Dad gives me a bit too much stick, I reckon. You know the other day he said he had trouble deciding where to buy his first house when he was at university. He said he couldn’t decide between New Farm or West End. He didn’t know if he wanted to be close to the Breakkie Creek or the bustling music scene,” he said.
“Can you imagine having that problem? Anyway, he raised me – and he reckons he did a good job of it. But in the same breath, he says that Millennials, including me, are lazy and conceited,”
“I don’t get it.”
