Well that doesn't happen often

There are times - increasingly rare these days - when I'm proud of being an Australian. Two things recently have shown me just how good Australians can be sometimes.

GetUp!'s marriage equality video, which you can watch here, has blitzed the internet. A powerful, simple and beautiful message, which the world is watching. As of this writing it has shy of 2 million views on Youtube. To see people on Wipeout Homophobia on Facebook or on The Other 98% - both with large international audiences - lauding this ad is truly uplifting. Of all the ads and campaigns I've seen on this issue, this one stands head and shoulders above them all. I defy anyone who watches that to turn around and ramble the same old inarticulate hatreds.

Recently, Australia held the annual Walkley Awards - awards for excellence in Australian journalism. It's no shallow circus where the usual suspects pat each other on the back, but rather a true celebration of good quality journalism and news and current affairs broadcasting. Well this year's winner for 'most outstanding contribution to journalism' was... Wikileaks. While some governments (*cough*United States*cough*) would probably prefer to assassinate and black-bag Wikileaks, the Walkley judges gave the whistleblowing collective a big thumbs up. From the judge's commentary on why Wikileaks won this award;

This year’s winner has shown a courageous and controversial commitment to the finest traditions of journalism: justice through transparency.

WikiLeaks applied new technology to penetrate the inner workings of government to reveal an avalanche of inconvenient truths in a global publishing coup.

Its revelations, from the way the war on terror was being waged, to diplomatic bastardry, high-level horse-trading and the interference in the domestic affairs of nations, have had an undeniable impact.

This innovation could just as easily have been developed and nurtured by any of the world’s major publishers – but it wasn’t.

Yet so many eagerly took advantage of the secret cables to create more scoops in a year than most journalists could imagine in a lifetime.

While not without flaws, the Walkley Trustees believe that by designing and constructing a means to encourage whistleblowers, WikiLeaks and its editor-in-chief Julian Assange took a brave, determined and independent stand for freedom of speech and transparency that has empowered people all over the world.

And in the process, they have triggered a robust debate inside and outside the media about official secrecy, the public’s right to know, and the future of journalism.

Maybe one ad campaign (that's not even on the telly yet, but you can donate here if you are so inclined), and one award doesn't add up to a lot, but you know what? I don't care. These two instances have shown that at least some Australians have a compassion and understanding that is simply beautiful, and that some Australians happen to think that honesty in journalism means something.

And that's all I need to get out of bed tomorrow.

(PS, if you check out the Walkley link, also have a look at Tony Jones, he's a good 'un too)