Xenophobic action man, Tony

Mind you, this mythology was written about the Diggers, not by them. They knew war isn’t manly. The Diggers found this out the hard way. Many of them came home injured and traumatised.

The values associated with the Aussie Digger were later reinvested in, among other masculine role models, the Aussie lifesaver. Through the image of the lifesaver mateship, able-bodied, racial purity, heroic sacrifice, and public service duty continued from the rhetoric of war to public safety. As the historian Richard White observes, the lifesaver became a figure in whom “Australians could … identify nationhood with an ideal type of manhood”.

Abbott likes to think he fits into a slouch hat or sluggoes nicely. Action man Tony. White, patriotic, Christian, able-bodied and willing to defend Australia at all costs.

The frontline to prove his masculinity is not Gallipoli or Papua New Guinea but the Australian coastline and the incursion of a new threat in the form of refugees and asylum seekers, recast as illegal immigrants and terrorists.

The manhood Abbott performs is a move to shore up the privileges and authority that come with currently being at the top of the pecking order as a white male in Australia. The problem is it silences the stories of others, such as refugees.

Who are we being protected against? Refugees like my friend Arjun?

Arjun is an ex child soldier who managed to escape the war in Sri Lanka, walk for a week with no food to locate a ramshackle boat, get himself and his daughter to Indonesia, and then get into Australia. While here Arjun has got himself a job, works tirelessly in his new community, studies international politics at university, and supports members of his family who remain in his homeland.

For me, it is actually people like Arjun who exhibit the traits of the Diggers.

The ironic thing is, some men continue to believe that Australian manhood means being vigilant and able to protect “us” from such people.