Embracing Australia: Why more of us are rejecting division on our national day

Today more of us will celebrate living in Australia and that’s a good thing because hating who we are or those who built so much of what we enjoy today is ultimately self-destructive and corrosive, writes Peta Credlin.

Our national day is a time to give thanks for the privilege of being Australian. For all our past mistakes and current imperfections, this is still the best country on Earth; and, as I often say, to have the right to live here is to have won the lottery of life.

But as well as acknowledging all those who have built our country and giving thanks for our good fortune, this should be a day for resolution to make a great country even greater; to address, as far as we can, what’s currently sub-optimal, and to strive, individually and collectively, to do better. And there wouldn’t be too many Australians, right now, who don’t fear that our country is drifting backwards.

Angelina Blazevski and Kristy Larkin proudly flying the Australian flag on Bondi Beach. Picture: Rohan Kelly

This is the mood opposition leader Peter Dutton is tapping into when he says that we have to “get our country back on track”. It’s the mood Donald Trump surfed back into office on, with his pledge to “make America great again”. And on the evidence of his first few days in office, he is already making a difference and demonstrating all the ways in which countries like ours are not doomed to inevitable economic, military and cultural decline.

Of course, in the end, like all governments, the Trump administration will be judged on performance, not promises. But in the “shock and awe” of the blizzard of announcements last week, there’s the likelihood of real change for the better.

He’s already declared an energy emergency, promised to pull out (again) of the Paris climate accord, encouraged oil and gas producers to “drill, baby, drill”, ordered troops to the open southern border, and ended any federal recognition that there might be genders other than male or female.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says we need to “get our country back on track”. Picture: Julian Andrew

Much of what Trump is trying to achieve could get caught up in legal challenge or bogged down in the congress but even if all he manages to do is cut back on red tape and reduce tax, this will unleash the latent potential of the US economy and draw in investment and technological change. And it’s happening already because lower tax and cheaper energy are bringing back the jobs and giving hope to dying towns and working-class people squeezed by globalisation, particularly Chinese manufacturing.

Trump’s agenda couldn’t be further removed from that of the Albanese government here at home which puts jobs at risk rather than securing them. Last week, Chris Bowen tried to assert that the world was still moving inexorably towards net zero. In fact, with emissions reduction no longer an American policy priority, and with China, India and Russia never committed to achieving net zero by 2050 anyway, none of the world’s four biggest national emitters are on board; and the always implausible goal of achieving net zero is now utterly fanciful.

Even the UK Labour government admitted as much in recent days. So if that’s the new reality, what’s the point of the Albanese government’s mad rush to a renewables-only grid that’s endangering our energy security, undermining our biggest exports, destroying heavy industry (as shown by the government’s panicked $2 billion handout this week to keep alive aluminium smelting here in Australia), and causing huge cost of living pain as our power bills climb higher and higher?

Trump’s agenda couldn’t be further removed from that of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his government. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

But where Americans are entering a new era of optimism about their future and real hope that they can turn the tide of a slow decline, here in this country, we still can’t decide what flag we’re for or whether our country is worth celebrating on its national day. Or at least that’s the haters and weak politicians.

Despite Australia’s almost unparalleled success as an immigrant nation, there’ll still be “invasion day” protests today, and a major pub chain that was previously forced to apologise for cancelling Australia Day, is at it again, substituting the “January long weekend” for a celebration of our national day. As well, there’s the threat of the usual anti-Australian ratbags coalescing with the pro-Palestinian protesters that the Albanese government’s anti-Israel stance has licensed, into a monster march in Melbourne disrupting today’s Australian Open tennis final.

It really is time to put the argument over our national day behind us once and for all. First, we can’t change history and for all the troubles the newcomers and the original inhabitants had coming to terms with each other, British settlement brought to this country democracy, the rule of law, the rights of women, and scientific progress.

Shruti Khandai and Aditi Khandai, at South Curl Curl Beach, are among the growing number of us looking forward to celebrating Australia Day. Picture: Richard Dobson

Second, it’s not just January 26 that the haters are against, but any day that celebrates a country with a largely Anglo-Celtic culture and Judaeo-Christian heritage so give up on Australia Day and Anzac Day will be next because that’s their long game. And third, the latest polling shows that support for January 26 as our national day is up six percentage points in a year to 69 per cent with all age groups in favour. Yes, including young Australians.

The opposition leader has already declared, on my Sky program, that – should be become PM – he’ll only ever stand in front of our one and only national flag. And that he’ll once again force local councils to hold citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day.

He’s also said he’s open to legislating to protect our national day with only a vote of all Australians ever able to overturn it.

Today, quietly or publicly, more of us will celebrate Australia than in recent years because we finally feel confident enough to know we are not alone, that the loud voices of the minority are diminishing. That’s a good thing because hating who we are or those who have gone before us who built so much of what we enjoy today is ultimately self-destructive, and corrosive.

Australians All Let Us Rejoice!

DEI STAND DOWN ORDER

One of Donald Trump’s early executive orders this week was stand down all US federal government employees working on “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI) programmes. The incoming president thinks that hiring and promotion decisions should be made on merit and not on ideological judgments about rectifying past discrimination against minorities. And he ordered all public servants back to the office too!

US President Donald Trump has ordered all public servants back to the office. Picture: Mandel NGAN / AFP

Even before Trump’s inauguration, major businesses such as Walmart and Meta, sensing the changing tide, had announced that they were dropping DEI programmes and once more hiring and promoting solely on merit. Meta has also dropped the “fact-checking”, for so-called misinformation and disinformation, that had become cover for the leftist self-censorship of social media.

Unfortunately, there’s been, as yet, no such return to common sense by public companies here in Australia. Of 20 large businesses contacted by the media this week about the Trump-driven abandonment of practical discrimination against white males, only four were prepared to make an on-the-record comment; and that was to reinforce their DEI credentials.

The Australian arm of fast-food giant McDonalds has explicitly rejected its US parent’s repudiation of hiring practices designed to favour racial and gender minorities. Despite Australian voters’ overwhelming rejection of indigenous separatism in the Voice referendum, Qantas and Virgin still don’t land anywhere in Australia without tedious acknowledgments of the local indigenous tribe, as if “country” belongs more to some of us than to everyone.

As a woman, I would only want to be hired or promoted on merit, and as an Australian, let’s stop the humiliation of being welcomed to our own country because we’re not Aboriginal. Now is a time for unity not division, on this and so many other things.

Originally published as Embracing Australia: Why more of us are rejecting division on our national day