James Morrow: Left’s attack on citizenship is big blow to our social cohesion

Beyond lip service to “a fair go” and “mateship”, the collective Australian ideal has, over time, started to ring a bit hollow, writes James Morrow.

It feels like the annual fight over Australia Day comes around earlier and earlier every year.

Perhaps it’s because the Bureau of Meteorology failed to deliver on its promise of a long, hot summer to keep us otherwise distracted.

Or maybe it’s because after the Voice, everyone’s nerves are a bit on edge over the subject.

But either way, the battle is on … again.

A few days ago we learned that 81 councils across the country had decided to ditch their Australia Day citizenship ceremonies out of respect for Aboriginal sensibilities, despite the country voting overwhelmingly against precisely this sort of racialised grandstanding at the referendum.

Now, of course this is bad.

81 councils across the country have decided to ditch their Australia Day citizenship ceremonies out of respect for Aboriginal sensibilities.

It is yet another example of local government doing the opposite of what local voters want and thinking their remit goes beyond the honourable if dull trinity of rates, roads and rubbish.

The trend against Australia Day citizenship ceremonies is also precisely what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hoped would develop when he opened the door to councils freelancing date changes when he modified the rules around these things back in December 2022.

And it is another blow against Australia’s social cohesion, which is already fraying badly.

Our formerly easy going, reasonably high trust society is, by any measure, doing poorly.

Whether it is something sinister like ethnic mobs intimidating Jews and forcing changes to government policy on Israel or more subtle developments like electronic gates at supermarkets (message: we think you’re all thieves) there is a growing sense that we are no longer all in this together.

The most recent Scanlon Social Cohesion Report put numbers behind this: Just 48 per cent of us now feel a strong sense of belonging and only 33 per cent feel a strong pride in the Australian way of life.

No wonder progressives – despite the referendum loss – think they are pushing on an open door in their attempt to remake Australia and crack our common foundations.

So, what are conservatives and non-political Australians who just want to feel a part of, and pride in, their nation supposed to do?

The first thing, as always, is to recognise that there is a problem.

Then, stop shying away from the solutions.

That the so-called progressive side of politics has wanted to hollow out the meaning of modern Australia for its own cynical purposes is well documented.

The trend against Australia Day citizenship ceremonies is also precisely what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hoped would develop, says James Morrow. Picture: Jonathan Ng

For the left, post-First Fleet Australia was an illegitimate and genocidal monstrosity that only began to redeem itself with the official adoption of multiculturalism.

Our British inheritance is looked upon as something tacky and a bit shameful, like a slightly embarrassing handed-down collection of commemorative plates no one quite knows what to do with.

At the same time the story of us as a prison colony turned prosperous democracy is a triumph that does not fit the narrative.

Yet the right, too, has to shoulder some of the blame.

In office for nine years, the Coalition did nothing serious to reform Julia Gillard’s disastrous Australian Curriculum.

Many in the Coalition have also shied away from these discussions for fear of being seen as “nativist” or have been seduced by Big Australia business lobbies that see population growth in solely economic terms.

Of course, a GDP is not a nationality, and it is not a family, and it is not a story to tell that anyone sane would think worth preserving.

Beyond lip service to “a fair go” and “mateship”, the collective Australian ideal has, over time, started to ring a bit hollow.

Particularly for young Australians who feel comprehensively dudded by the housing market and whose ire is being stoked by a weird coalition of property developers, activists and think-tank economists.

Anthony Albanese. Picture: NCA NewsWire /Thomas Parrish

The end result is that the citizenship that may or may not be conferred to migrants on Australia Day is less about joining a family with a proud (if, yes, imperfect) story to tell and more about locking in one’s status to vote and stay and claim Medicare.

And when, even with that citizenship, new Australians are told to preserve the old ways, not only does it raise the question “what’s the point?” but it can get downright dangerous.

Just look at how Labor MPs from heavily Muslim electorates have cracked the government’s once-unified policy on Israel.

This is hardly the only example either.

Think about how, for example, Scott Morrison’s admirable and tough stance on China was blamed for the Liberals losing Australian voters of Chinese extraction in key seats at the 2022 election.

This is not to say that various ethnic constituencies are acting as fifth columns but it is to note that they are lacking any sort of meaningful idea around what it is to be Australian.

The opportunity here for the Coalition is two fold.

One, to start talking about common values and our common story in a way the left is unable to and thus appealing to a broad middle that wants to feel part of something bigger than itself.

Two, to do something about housing – both by doubling down on allowing people to use their super for a deposit and calling Labor out for their Big Australia policies that have led to virtually every new unit built to be gobbled up by newcomers.

The left will squeal that this is exclusionary and nationalist but that’s more a tell on their own discomfort with the idea of Australian nationhood than anything else.

Originally published as James Morrow: Left’s attack on citizenship is big blow to our social cohesion