Jun 23, 2026 – 5.00amWhen I was Australia’s ambassador to Greece during the debt crisis, I saw how society fractures when governments substitute hard reform with populist shift-blaming.In Athens, the crisis was not an abstraction; it was visible in shuttered shops, streets filled with protest, young people leaving in search of a future elsewhere and families bearing the cost of years of poor policy choices.Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Fetching latest articles