Each year at Easter ageing hippies from across Australia gather in the nations capital to share four days of music, dance, poetry and copious amounts of guiness.

It is a yearly opportunity for The Green Man to pretend that Australia is still a nice accepting and tolerant place to live where music and the oral traditions of this eclectic country are celebrated. Where the older traditions of music and dance that were brought to this country are blended with more recent arrivals to produce a rich patchwork of music and culture.

By way of example, take a klezmer band, that's a middle European Jewish musical style for the uneducated souls amongst you. They are playing on the main stage beneath the flag of Eureka with a didgeridoo providing the base. Our recent, our old and our ancient cultures in harmony to produce a symbolism that resonates with inclusiveness. How far this is from the divisive Australia of the Howard government.

Well it is reassuring to know that there are at least 10,000 caring and compassionate Australians. I suspect more but we are given so little opportunity to display it these days.