Book excerpt: From the heart of the Western Queensland Channel Country, Australia's oldest and favourite newspaper details our country's very rocky start to a millennium that was supposed to be one of great optimism and innovation. 2020 was meant to be our year of healing. A time to tend to the wounds of a country torn asunder by a decade of divisive political and media debates. A lack of confidence in the international sporting arena. A 24-hour news cycle that has destroyed the pub test. We thought all of the uncertainty was behind us. The federal election delivered us Scotty from Marketing. The Quiet Australian spoke up. Gay marriage? Yep. Climate change? Let's wait and see what happens. Smudge and Warner had served their time and, together as a nation, it was time to rebuild. But fate had other plans, starting with the worst bushfires in human memory. While large swathes of the country burned, our politicians were either on holidays or giving their mates grants to build indoor pools in blue-ribbon seats. Surely, it couldn't get worse. 'ken oath it could. Mother nature arrived as COVID-19, and told us all to go to our rooms. This is a specially formatted fixed-layout ebook that retains the look and feel of the print book.