Time to take our nation beyond football, meat pies, kangaroos & Holden cars

Ross B. Taylor AM 

Yesterday was National Citizenship Day. A day when 2,500 people became Australian citizens, where multi-culturalism is now part of our foundation, and immigration has changed the face of our nation for the better.

But as we celebrate this occasion, perhaps it is a good time to reflect on our journey as a nation so far and ask, ‘where to from here, and what is our collective vision for the future?’

Australia has certainly grown-up from the days when we defined ourselves by adopting that popular advertisement, ‘Football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars’ but maybe it’s a good time to ask why we so often continue to trivialise what we stand for as a nation? Why we continue to suffer from a national insecurity complex and self-doubt – often masked by loud and aggressive behaviour at home and abroad - as to who we are and what is our place in the Asian region?

This ‘uncomfortableness’ can be clearly seen in discussions about core issues including the appropriate date for Australia Day, and also our flag. These are core issues that provide a foundation for us all, and that also should provide a clear message to our regional neighbours about how we see ourselves. Canadians and, closer to home, Indonesians had the courage in developing their own flag as a symbol upon which they built true nationalism and a more mature and secure nations.  Here in Australia, we continue to struggle to do this, sending confusing messages to our strategic and economically important neighbours.

Australia’s population is now made-up of almost 25% of citizens from non-European nations. Just over 12% have Asian heritage. Yet ironically, many people in Asia still see Australia as the ‘big empty, white land’ located south of Indonesia. A country that is perceived as still wanting to be, as George Bush once proclaimed, ‘the US deputy sheriff of the region’. These perceptions are incorrect and outdated. Australia is undoubtedly one of the most successful multi-cultural nations on Earth, but we don’t act like it, and many neighbours to our north still do not see us as anything but an isolated white Anglo-Saxon country of just 24 million people rather than a small, but very smart and sophisticated nation who can contribute to the growth, stability and prosperity of the region.

Our political leaders go to great lengths to remind us that Asia is our future, and that we must build closer links with our immediate region. Here in WA, we have Australia’s only state minister for Asian Engagement, yet deep in our psychic lies a suspicion about our neighbours, and a deeper insecurity about who we are as a people and where exactly we belong.

Research from the prestigious Lowy Institute shows over 60% of Australians still lack trust of Indonesians for example, whilst simultaneously ‘loving’ Balinese. Meanwhile, we prefer to forget how terrified we were about the ‘swarms’ of Vietnamese who were seeking a new life in Australia back in the seventies; the same people who now grow over 40% of every vegetable that ends up on our dinner plates, whilst creating a diverse economy and profitable export markets back into Asia.

We have talked about progressing the health and living standards of our own aboriginal people, and the safety of our women from domestic violence, yet very little progress has been made. 

Adopting a new flag – preferably the current Aboriginal flag with the permission of Elders – won’t fix all these issues, but by embracing this stunning flag, that says everything about us, would be a good start. Then, to create new Australia Day, to provide the essential base that would not only complete the reconciliation process, but also define us and clearly articulate to the World who we are, what we stand for, and how we see our place in this region.