The evidence of our shortcomings is clear. Widespread sexual harassment of women is matched by widespread neglect of the elderly.

Our cruel treatment of asylum seekers and refugees is equalled by criminal institutional sexual abuse of children. You may disagree with some of these characterisations of Australian society, but more can be added to the list.

Two questions follow. How can we agree upon higher aspirations and what should they be? Only then can we proceed to put these aspirations into practice.

I thought again about these questions over the past week during the 26th National Schools Constitutional Convention (NSCC), which I facilitated in the Museum of Australian Democracy, and the national Palm Sunday Rally for Refugees, which I attended in Civic. Similar rallies were held across the country.

What, you may ask, do these two seemingly different events have in common?

The former, the NSCC, is an annual two-day exercise, born out of the constitutional reform hopes of the 1990s, for more than 100 selected senior secondary students. This year it was held virtually from 11 hubs around the country, including every state and territory.

It is an intellectual exercise in collective thinking, modelling a democratic constitutional convention. The question under consideration was: should the constitution have a new preamble that would recognise our history, our aspirations and the many peoples and groups that make up our nation?

These younger Australians were full of energy, optimism and engagement, confident in their ability to come together to offer a statement full of aspirations and ideals about our country.

The latter, the Palm Sunday rally, was also the most recent in a long series. It has an even longer history, dating back to the emergence of church-based peace marches, held on the Sunday before Easter, in the 1980s.

It is now a community-wide and ecumenical event. The face of Australia represented at such rallies is quite different as the presence of younger people and students is equalled by older Australians.

What they share is a search for common higher ground and an expression of community aspirations. Some participants may hope that political action might quickly follow when leaders hear their voices and that the government and Parliament will spring into action (the NSCC communique is presented to the President of the Senate and read into Hansard).

But most participants realise that this may be unlikely and reluctantly accept that their presence is a valuable public expression of their higher aspirations.

The events also have in common that they are a cross-section of the Australian community, though clearly not representing all points of view as they are essentially self-selected. The NSCC brings together chosen students with a demonstrated interest in public affairs from various Indigenous and ethnic backgrounds within the public, private and Catholic school systems.

The Palm Sunday rallies are equally mixed and explicitly bring together groups marching under the banners of trade unionists, the medical profession, university students, humanists, Vinnies and Christians of various persuasions.

Both events had speakers representing different points of view to inform our aspirations. The NSCC supplemented expert constitutional and historical input with Indigenous and multicultural perspectives from public policy practitioners. The rally brought together a personal refugee perspective and that of a female Anglican minister with Canberra icon, Jack Waterford.

Refugee and asylum seeker policy is highly contested, and critics of the Palm Sunday rally would reject its negative representation of government policy. The Governor-General praised the NSCC delegates, but, given his apolitical role, would not ever back a controversial event like the Palm Sunday political campaign. Likewise, some supporters of a new constitutional preamble, including refugee supporters, may rank it quite low on their list of national "things-we-must-do" priorities.

What an aspirational preamble does do, however, is to turn our minds towards higher national ideals, providing a framework within which our community can decide upon our public policies, including refugee policy. It must take account of our history and reflect the diverse attachments and motivations which make up our collective identity.

It should also be the product of compromise, even-handedness and respect for one other. It should recognise but rise above mere politics, because if it is born of party politics alone it will fail to win widespread community assent.

After serious reflection, dialogue and willingness to compromise the 108 National Schools Constitutional Convention delegates agreed by clear majority vote to support the following new constitutional preamble.

"As the people of Australia we are united across states and territories to serve the common good.

"Interconnected through culture and heritage, we recognise the First Nations peoples, whose sovereignty was never ceded, and on whose land we reside and swear to protect.

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"Through these aspects we strengthen our Australian identity. We shall live our lives under the rule of law, in respect to our democratic values set out by the Commonwealth.

"We acknowledge the ever-changing nature of Australian identity, recognising that time will bring new peoples, cultures and ideals.

"We pay our respects to those who served and continue to serve our nation in times of peace and conflict.

"We pledge to be people who strive for equality, regardless of gender, race, faith or culture while swearing to protect the honourable constitution of Australia."

Such a positive statement of ideals and aspirations is a challenge to all of us as we struggle to rise above the darkness of contemporary politics.