Why we love Australia: Our Prime Ministers, MPs, business leaders, sport and TV stars share their stories
We asked some of our most high profile Aussies to write about why they love our sunburnt country. Here, they celebrate our pride, humour and what they’d change. Read their full responses.
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Today we celebrate the sense of pride, humour, grit and determination that makes up the Australian spirit.
Writing exclusively for News Corp, former Australians of the Year, prime ministers, prominent business leaders and sporting heroes - everyone from Anthony Albanese and John Howard to Pat Rafter and Gina Rinehart - share their thoughts about what it is about Australians that makes us so unique.
Writing from the heart, these great Australians refect on what it is that makes Australia great.
Follow the links to the individual responses under each person’s excerpt below.
PAT RAFTER
I’m very proud to be an Australian.
We’re a proud nation – but at the same time a certain humility is also a big part of who we are.
We talk about the tall poppy syndrome, but I don’t necessarily agree with that. If I could sum up what our attitude is, it’s this: don’t be an arrogant dick. And it doesn’t matter who you are. It’s not about being cut down, it’s just: don’t get a big head. Don’t get an ego.
The way the world is now, with social media, that’s getting increasingly hard, because everyone’s trying to be something that they’re not, and going for their five minutes of fame, and they allow that to go to their heads.
With me, bringing up my children, humility is part of what I want to teach them; just that sense of being normal, not thinking that they’re better than anyone else.
READ IN FULL: Pat Rafter is a former world number one tennis player
POH LING YEOW
I turned nine the day we hopped on a plane saying goodbye to Malaysia. The moment my parents told me we were migrating to Australia felt epiphanous even at that age. Life was about to make sense and as soon as we landed on Aussie soil I knew I belonged. It was a fact not a feeling. At Highgate Primary a little posse of girls took me under their wing and guarded me like freckle faced watchdogs. They shared their BBQ Shapes, mini boxes of sultanas, fended off naughty boys and held back their reactions to my weird-arse lunches of fried rice and chicken giblets braised in dark soy and anise.
I have a cultural identity that is fluid from day to day – one where my Chinese Malaysian heritage flits in and out of the background by way of family, cultural celebrations and food while the Australian part of me informs a love for larrikinism, openness and honesty. For a long time I felt a heavy guilt about shedding so many of my Chinese Malaysian parts to fit in as a kid, but at 51 I’m more philosophical. I’m happy to yield to the outcome as just a way the cookie crumbled.
JOE HILDEBRAND
The historian Donald Horne famously called Australia The Lucky Country but he didn’t mean it in a good way. Instead he saw it as a place run by “second rate people” who somehow fluked their way to national success.
A yellowed copy of his book was one of many stacked for years in the outside dunny of my childhood home in Dandenong. I stared at the title a lot as a kid and thankfully never opened it to find the irony.
Like most of us I simply assumed that we were indeed the lucky country and figured that was a good thing.
We are certainly luckier than most. Our nation was born of reform, not revolution. We have never had to suffer a civil war or foreign invasion.
READ IN FULL: Joe Hildebrand is a News Corp Australia columnist
ANTHONY ALBANESE
Australia Day is an opportunity to celebrate everything we’ve built together and to be optimistic for the future we can shape together.
It’s a chance for all of us to reflect on how lucky we are to live in the greatest country on earth and to think about what we can do to make our nation even better in the years ahead.
There is so much that sets Australia apart. We are a young nation, on an ancient continent. Nowhere else on the planet can match the natural beauty of our environment, country that Aboriginal and Torres Islander people have cared for over 60,000 years. Offering all of us the unique privilege of sharing in the world’s oldest continuous culture.
Our national story contains heartbreak and hardship, triumph and disaster, dark times and bright days. We belong to all of it, we’ve learnt from all of it. Above all, we know the best chapter is yet to be written.
READ IN FULL: Anthony Albanese is Australia’s 31st Prime Minister
ALANA KING
I love playing cricket internationally as a job. But nothing beats getting on that plane back after a big tour and knowing you’re coming back to your bed and pillow at home.
People still ask me who I’m supporting when Australia are playing India in men’s cricket. The recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy was the perfect example.
I don’t even hesitate: Australia. It leaves some people a bit gobsmacked. But as someone who was born here, and is lucky enough to live here, there’s never any doubt in my mind.
I’m so proud to represent this incredibly diverse country. Pulling on the green and gold shirt and running onto the field past the Australian flag is a privilege that is not lost on me. I can’t wait to do it for many more years to come.
READ IN FULL: Alana King is a member of the Australian women’s cricket team
PETER COSGROVE
In the early 1950s when Bob Menzies reigned supreme, he was up for election and Mum said she was carting me off to stand up the back of one of his campaign speeches at the Bondi Surf Club pavilion. Young as I was, I expressed surprise that Mum would want to hear from this arch-conservative, and she replied ‘You’ll never hear a better public speaker and debater’. Menzies and his audience lived up to her billing – the audience of supporters and opponents were excited, occasionally raucous but fundamentally civil and respectful. Menzies
was a master orator and brilliant on the repartee.
Fast forward to 1975, when one of my predecessor Governors-General terminated Gough Whitlam’s commission; the sacked PM asked us to ‘maintain your rage’ from the steps of Parliament House, and there were protest marches – but equally there was a confident expectation we’d sort it all out at the ballot box.
Even then, as a pluralistic nation with strong political tidal flows, confident restraint prevailed in Australia.
Australia is a great democracy – one of the world’s greatest. We are proud of that and want every Australian to know it; to absorb or inherit that sense.
READ IN FULL: Peter Cosgrove was Governor-General of Australia from 2014 to 2019
PETER DUTTON
Australia Day is a celebration of the greatest country in the world, and we should not be afraid of celebrating it.
We owe so much to those who came before us. Gratitude to Indigenous Australians who cared for the land. Gratitude to British settlers who gifted us the institutions and ideas that have underpinned our democracy. Gratitude to the farmers, miners, labourers, builders, manufacturers and constitutional drafters who transformed colonies into a federated country. Gratitude to the soldiers, sailors and airmen who served to defend our nation and deter and defeat evil, including the more than 103,000 who gave their lives. Gratitude to the migrants who arrived after the Second World War and in the decades after who embraced our values, helped build our modern nation, and became cherished Australians.
With gratitude to our forebears comes responsibility. We are the custodians of a remarkable legacy. And as custodians, we have a duty to hand over to the next generation a country better than the one we inherited. It’s our sense of responsibility and mateship which makes Australia tick.
READ IN FULL: Peter Dutton has been leader of the Liberal Party since 2022
JOHN HOWARD
Instinctively, one embraces that ancient invocation to “count one’s blessings” when reflecting on the miracle to have been born in Australia. When asked why they love Australia, most acclaim the openness of their fellow citizens, the social stability, cohesion and mobility, the benign weather or the opportunities in life which have come their way. “If you work hard in Australia, you can get on” is a common response, particularly from those who have come to Australia as migrants or refugees. The expression “a fair go” best describes what we desire for ourselves and for the future of other Australians.
Having spent recent weeks avidly following an enthralling Test Cricket Series, I’ll add sport and all that goes with it as a further reason why I love being Australian.
Seen from abroad those blessings are a massive collective magnet, which has attracted millions to our shores. To me also, there is the wider reality which has been with us since the early years of British settlement. That is, a great sense of balance.
A sense of balance is to be found in every aspect of Australian life. The saying “a fair go” gives colloquial expression to it. We believe very deeply in equality of opportunity – not so in equality of outcomes. Outcomes are in the hands of individuals.
READ IN FULL: John Howard was Australian Prime Minister from 1996 to 2007
PETA CREDLIN
The Australia I love is a land of spectacular natural beauty and extremes. Of warm and genuine people, especially in the bush. I’ve often thought about the contrast that the overseas visitor must come up against between our animals that all want to kill you and our people that are quick to treat a stranger like family. We’re a nation where our history is full of examples where we’ve taken on a fight and won it against the odds. Where we have been brave or stood against the tide; where we have rejected the established view and made our own way. We are a country of inventors, pioneers, storytellers, travellers, volunteers, builders, larrikins and dreamers. Not perfect by any stretch, and sometimes I fear, better in the past than we are today – about which I hope I am wrong.
Unlike so many other nations, we were not born of civil war or conflict. That doesn’t mean there aren’t wounds as well as triumphs in our history – of course there are. But like so many everyday Australians, I reject recent attempts to try and reshape our history as one of shame. Being taught to loathe my country would be akin to rejecting my family because being an Australian is such a huge part of who I am. In the end, it’s the country we are now that matters, and there’s so much more to celebrate than to lament, as every recent migrant – who voted with their feet – will tell you.
READ IN FULL: Peta Credlin is a political commentator on Sky News
RHODA ROBERTS AO
My great-grandfather, Lyle Roberts Senior, the last initiated man of the Bundjalung Nation, passed down three essential principles to his descendants: retain pride in one’s race and colour, preserve identity and language, and foster inclusivity and kindness.
These guiding values, rooted in the ancient kinship systems and generosity of our people, were intended to create a society grounded in respect and unity. While he was optimistic that the values of freedom, fairness, and equality espoused by the Australian government would one day be realised, the reality for many First Nations peoples remains far from this ideal.
While we are a country that allows religious freedoms, there is still resistance by many who have occupied our territories to First Nations peoples continuing our specific practices. Acknowledging the land, the people and the seasons through our rituals is an expression of that freedom to practice our beliefs without restriction.
While some may not fully appreciate this protocol, I continue to do so to honour the continuity of my forefathers’ traditions. As the stewards of this land, their legacy is for future generations, and we must ensure our unique heritage remains a vital part of Australia’s national identity.
READ IN FULL: Rhoda Roberts is the creative director of the Parrtjima Festival
DR ANDREW FORREST AO
I travel extensively for work, and the people I meet agree that the most peaceful country, and the safest, with the highest standard of living, is Australia.
We should embrace the fact that we are loved and trusted by the rest of the world. Instead of being defensive, we should be on the front foot with our diplomacy. We can be that bridge between North America and China; we can be that country with a European heritage that is centred in Asia, but with our own deeply Australian culture.
There’s no lack of critical analysis of Australia by Australians – that awareness of the things we’re getting wrong. But we’re getting so much right. We are still that peaceful, safe nation, born from hard work and the belief in the fair go.
READ IN FULL: Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest is the non-executive chair of Fortescue Metals Group
HARRY TRIGUBOFF
I was born in China and after the war we all knew that we had to leave, so we all left. I came to Australia with some friends who went to kindergarten with me and we all did so well. Australia accepted people. Australia is my home. I’m here all the time.
Harry Triguboff is the founder of Meriton
Watch his response in our video below.
PROFESSOR GEORGINA LONG AO
Being Australian means being part of a community that believes in the power of practical innovation and determined action. Whether in medical research or other fields, this is the Australian way – facing challenges with courage, finding creative solutions through collaboration, and advancing not just for our own interests but for the greater good of humanity. This is what’s worth celebrating about Australia today, and what will continue to define us in the years ahead.
MARK BOURIS
My father came to Australia from war-torn Greece in the 1940s and was welcomed with warmth.
Because of that I had the opportunity to live a much better life than he did as a child.
In his village, which had been occupied by the Germans, people did not have things we take for granted – running water, a toilet or a bed.
Here we lived a working-class life in the western suburbs of Sydney, but relative to where my dad had come from it was amazing.
The conditions here are unbelievable: the weather, location – even the sports. The big one though is the level of safety. Feeling safe is a fundamental requirement for humans.
So to me, Australia Day is an important time to remember what we have versus what could have been.
READ IN FULL: Mark Bouris is the founder of Wizard Home Loans
DAVID HURLEY
We are a weird mob. We can be brilliant and yet we can be frustrating. We can reach great heights and yet be deeply disappointing. We are a multicultural island nation, bound, particularly when needs must, by common purpose and values and yet at times seemingly divided into an island of nations. But amidst these contradictory and conflicting characteristics there lies enormous potential and possibility. The opportunity to watch and participate in the interplay of these characteristics over the last 20 years has reinforced in me the criticality of our freedoms and the quality of our people, and as such has made me proud to be an Australian.
READ IN FULL: David Hurley was Australian Governor-General from 2019 to 2024
JACINTA NAMPINJINPA PRICE
This great sunburnt south land – sweeping and ragged with droughts and floods, has a lot to do with who we are.
Whether due to our vast size, climate, terrain or some of our more dangerous fauna, the Australian landscape presents challenges at almost every turn.
But in looking these squarely in the eye, we became a people of resilience, of courage and loyalty – to each other and this place to which we all belong.
While survival here was not a given, not only did we survive, but we thrived.
All throughout our history we learned courage, looking beyond the challenges presented by our country, to the opportunities it offered in equal measure. We grasped them with our hands, feet and every other part of ourselves, never shying away from gruelling and backbreaking work, we dug in.
And what emerged? A thriving country, successful both in material riches and the character of our people.
READ IN FULL: Jacinta Nampijinpa Price is a Senator for the Northern Territory
GINA RINEHART
Australia Day is an important day for all Australians.
A day to think about our past, our present and maybe our future too, all elements of who we are as Australians, surrounded by people we enjoy, plus some great Aussie wines and cheeses and of course, meat pies, our Kidman pies are delish!
Our pioneering history is one of struggle and hard work, as they strived to build a better living for their families and future generations. Their lives were hard, I recall dairy pioneers, the Daubney family, telling me when their ancestors started the dairy industry in our Southwest, they had to handsaw the giant hardwoods to see the sun and build fences and a cabin, a two-bedroom home, no bathroom inside, that ultimately comprised parents and their 11 children. And with no shops around, for ten years they lived off bread they made and butter they churned, a long tiresome process back then, and any fish they occasionally caught, or wildlife.
Sundays in the Pilbara were special days for my pioneering family that built the first stations, town, and port in the northwest back in the 1860s. Sundays were when they’d take off two hours and the family would read the bible together. That was their entertainment, the rest of their days were filled with work. There was only room for common sense in the constant battle to survive harsh conditions, logical and rational thinking were required, no room for nonsense.
READ IN FULL: Gina Rinehart is the executive chair of Hancock Prospecting
DICK SMITH
Our country covers a huge changing latitude, from the warm seas and the monsoons around Darwin, to the bracing cold in southern Tasmania. We can go from skiing in the morning in the Australian Alps and drive down the coast and go to some of the best surfing beaches in the world. So we’re incredibly fortunate.
READ IN FULL: Dick Smith is an entrepreneur and former Australian of the Year
KATHY LETTE
The Aussie tendency to give quip-lash is clearly good for our health. Research published by the British Medical Journal reveals that life expectancy Down Under is two years longer than in the UK and nearly five years longer than in America. You don’t need a medical degree to deduce the reason: laughter is the best medicine. A good chortle brings about a drop in blood pressure and boosts the immune system. And listening to Parliamentary Questions is an excellent way to induce mirth. (Although, if Pauline Hanson is speaking, it should also come with a medical warning - “Contains Nuts.”)
Being able to laugh at life straps a giant shock absorber to your brain. From convict and immigrant hardships to our long list of Dorothy-Mackellar-esque “droughts and flooding rains”, our nation’s story is chock-a-block full of peril. Forget the School of Hard Knocks; our ancestors graduated from the Adversity University.
I was recently nail-chewingly glued to news reports of woman stranded in an elevator during a Queensland cyclone. Precariously suspended in that claustrophobic cube in pitch darkness, winds howling, she managed to get a message to the outside world …“Send in chardonnay and chocolate.”
DAVID LITTLEPROUD
There are many who have tried to define exactly what is to be Australian, but it’s hard to do, because we’re a strange lot.
While Australia is a melting pot of multiculturalism, whose identity was initially defined by our British roots, we have evolved and continue to evolve to this day.
What we have become as Australians was, in a small part, what we initially built our country from; that romanticised notion of a wealthy country built off the sheep’s back from some outback frontier, or to a greater extent, that of our young sons, forging our national identity with courage, hard work and mateship on the battlefields of foreign lands.
While our past still helps define us from what and how we built this country over the last 220-plus years, it laid the foundations of who we are becoming as a people today; a country prepared to celebrate what we have built but is also prepared to accept the mistakes of our past without having to be asked.
READ IN FULL: David Littleproud is the leader of the National Party
PROFESSOR RICHARD SCOLYER AO
Australians have an attitude that I don’t think you see in many other countries.
People are very friendly, very happy in general terms, and they’re willing to do things to help others, including people they don’t know. This was really obvious during the Covid crisis.
We also see this all the time at Melanoma Institute Australia. For our research work, we need patients who are willing to allow us to collect their data and specimens – and the percentage of Australians who are willing to do this is way higher than other countries. Participation in clinical trials is also important.
It’s another example of the attitude of Australians which we all should be very proud of, and it has made a big difference for us in melanoma research. We’ve been able to change treatments and save lives.
CHENG LEI
Nothing makes you miss Australia more than Chinese detention.
Space, sun, nature, smiling strangers and sport.
All of it non-existent or banned in the cell.
A year after release, in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, I ran my heart out as teammates cheered me at my first soccer game.
Our team is called the Newbies and is as eclectic as Australia itself. All ages, shapes, skill levels and ethnicities.
My kids also play soccer, so I’ve been to grounds all over Melbourne. Whatever the weather, we share sport and its life lessons – play fairly, lose gracefully, keep working hard.
To help Mum with depression, I’ve taken her to tennis at the church club. It costs hardly anything to play and the eldest player she’s met is 95.
Those who wonder how Australia punches above its weight in sporting achievements would get their answer by feeling the grassroots vibes at any community sports centre.
Compare it to countries where sports help grease the propaganda machine and athletes are tools of the regime, spat out once medal juices extracted.
In Australia sport is everywhere - accessible, affordable, and inclusive. With each exhilarating sprint, each inspired rally, my family, aged 13 to 76, feel the post-trauma scarring fade.
READ IN FULL: Cheng Lei is a presenter on Sky News. Between 2020-23 she was held in detention by authorities in China.
MAURICE NEWMAN
I may not be indigenous to this country but I feel as attached to this land as anyone who is native born. Indeed, I pay my respects to the pioneers and settlers who, from the very beginning, renounced slavery, rewarded achievement and created a prosperous egalitarian society. And I salute all those who, in war, sacrificed so much that we and future generations could live in freedom.
I reject the notion of cultural relativism and denounce all those who demean our heritage and our values. Our culture is better in so many ways and is recognised as such by the millions escaping tyranny or who, like my parents, are simply in search of a better future.
It’s why I’m celebrating Australia Day.
READ IN FULL: Maurcie Newman is an Australian businessman
TONY SHEPHERD
I grew up in a country which was recovering from two terrible world wars initiated by evil megalomaniacs. We lost many young men and in World War One a whole generation. Australia in the 1940s and 1950s was also still recovering from the Great Depression.
With the benefit of strong and ambitious post war leaders, Australia developed and implemented policies to make us self-sufficient and to grow quickly – with a focus on innovation, science, education and training, industrialisation and an ambitious immigration program which brought us the skills and workers we so desperately needed.
We were the third country to successfully launch our own satellite. We pioneered WiFi, invented the first drone in the pilotless Jindivik aircraft, and developed the first effective over the horizon radar. We also invented the Hills Hoist and the Victa Rotary Lawn Mower.
In a humanitarian sense we welcomed refugees fleeing from the horrors of Nazism and communism and subsequently also those escaping from the world’s new and dangerous megalomaniacs.
READ IN FULL: Tony Shepherd is an Australian businessman
Originally published as Why we love Australia: Our Prime Ministers, MPs, business leaders, sport and TV stars share their stories
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