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The values of democracy, mateship and country

By Peter van Vliet - posted Friday, 15 September 2006


The values that to me help define what it means to be Australian are those of democracy, mateship, and country. These are inclusive and profoundly optimistic values, which all Australians, regardless of their cultural background, can carry into the 21st century. Combined with recognition of our Indigenous history and a celebration of our status as an immigrant nation these are values that can serve to unite rather than divide Australians.

As a federal, parliamentary democracy, Australia’s system of government is among the most continuous and stable in the world. Our collective commitment to democracy is something that should be universally celebrated to a much greater extent than is currently the case.

In Australia we can take great pride in being world leaders in the democratic project. The continuing rise of democracy is based on the simple, universal and powerful truth that governments should ultimately be accountable to, ruled by and governed for the people. While America’s current botched international policies are giving democracy a bad name, the move towards global democracy continues unabated anyway. This is because democracy is something that all free people aspire to - it is a truly universal value.

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Our democratic history can be traced back to the Ballarat Eureka uprising of 1854 and the granting of representative and responsible government to most of Australia’s then colonies around that time. Our democratic tradition was further confirmed at federation in 1901 where our Federal Constitution was agreed to peacefully and democratically by the Australian people by referendum, highly unusual at the time.

During the constitutional crisis of 1975 other countries might have collapsed if placed in a similar scenario. But Australians simply chose to refer their differences to the ballot box. It was the instinctively Australian and democratic thing to do. Political disputes in Australia are settled by votes not violence. The noble creed of democracy is the first Australian value that we should all acknowledge and celebrate. It is a creed that holds us all together.

Being Australian also means acknowledging the great local creed of mateship. Mateship means lending a helping hand and looking out for others. It means relating to all people as equals and not according to the caste and class distinctions more characteristic of the old world. Some older feminists cringe at the term “mate” with its blokey blue collar connotations. But many younger women have embraced the term. Recently arrived migrants often develop an immediate connection with the term mate and use it proudly.

Whatever terminology we use, the values of equality and egalitarianism are unashamedly Australia. Being Australian now also recognises that women are equal to men and should be able to participate in our society to the fullest. Mateship and equality across the sexes is something we should all be proud of.

Being Australian also means having connection to country. Indigenous Australians connection to country is deeply spiritual and hugely significant to their cultural identity. Their connection to country dates back 40,000 years as the first Australian arrivals from the North.

But to non-Indigenous Australians there is also strong connection. A connection to the open skies and the wide space of our shared homeland. A connection to the smell of eucalyptus, the blossom of the wattle, and to our magnificent fauna. A connection to the great Southern Cross which helps light up our sky at night and keeps a watchful eye over our national destiny.

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Celebrating the creed of country also puts Indigenous Australians right at the centre of our national story where they belong. It acknowledges Indigenous Australians special connection to our great land. Love of our big country is our biggest pride. The creed of country should be a creed that unites us all.

Australia is a multicultural, multilayered nation. Only Indigenous Australians can lay claim to ancestry that dates back more than 220 years and even they arrived as immigrants from distant lands many thousands years ago. On top of recognising our indigenous heritage, we need to celebrate and acknowledge our status as an immigrant nation.

From the first prison ships of 1788, to the significant numbers of skilled and humanitarian migrants arriving by jet in the 21st century, Australia is a land that continues to be populated by immigrants. With one in four Australians born overseas and 40 per cent of Australians either being born overseas, or having at least one parent born overseas, Australia status as an immigrant nation is an indisputable truth. In our big cities like Sydney and Melbourne multiculturalism is now the mainstream. It is something to celebrate and something that brings profound cultural, social and economic benefits.

We also need to acknowledge and celebrate our British heritage, which continues to be the dominant culture in many parts of Australia and particularly in the regions. But while no one denies the primary role of British migration in shaping today’s national institutions, we need also to recognise that an exclusive Anglo-Australian identity simply doesn’t match the reality anymore. Such an identity puts somewhere around two-thirds of Australians within the citizenship circle and the remaining third outside. It creates insiders and outsiders, inclusion and exclusion. At its worse an enforced mono-cultural Australian identity becomes the stock in trade of zealots and leads us down the ugly road of racism.

Singing I am Australian in a modest church hall in outer suburban Melbourne last Australia Day with fellow Australians from many different cultural backgrounds was a very emotional moment in my life. In that song was a national story, a national pride, that didn’t need to be manufactured because it was real. The dreamtime is there, the convict origins of early British settlement, the rebelliousness of the Australian-Irish influence, and passing reference to our most evocative national song, Waltzing Matilda.

In the chorus we’re told that Australians come from all the lands on earth. This acknowledges the success of our post-war immigration program with its European continental influence and also recognises our recent waves of Asian, Middle-Eastern and African immigrants who are adding further layers of culture and meaning to our national story.

A nation of 20 million people without a dominant ancestry needs an inclusive national story. We need to let go of some of the stuffy stereotypes and myths that surround our current national identity and get with the Australian mainstream of cultural diversity wrapped around shared and agreed values. The values of democracy, mateship and country might just be a good place to start.

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About the Author

Peter van Vliet is a senior public servant.

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