Tanya Plibersek canes conservatives on citizenship, patriotism

Tanya Plibersek has accused conservatives of misusing symbols of patriotism, and ridiculed Peter Dutton’s citizenship test.

Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek. Picture: AAP

Tanya Plibersek has urged progressives to engage in the cultural battle of ideas and advocate the idea of inclusive citizenship, with rights and responsibilities, which can bind Australians together.

Ms Plibersek said a commitment to Australia and each other was what mattered most in citizenship and identified the values of democracy, equality and fairness as the core elements of true patriotism.

“Australian citizenship is the glue that holds our proudly multicultural nation together,” Ms Plibersek said while delivering the Wran Lecture in Sydney tonight.

“Citizenship comes with rights and responsibilities — to each other. Conservatives love to wrap themselves in the flag, but what is missing from their notion of citizenship is solidarity; what we owe to one another.”

The deputy Labor leader took aim at conservatives for misappropriating symbols of Australian patriotism and argued that what underpinned citizenship were progressive values such as mateship, solidarity and loyalty.

“The hard right have long sought a monopoly privilege on Australian patriotism,” Ms Plibersek said. “But they’re wrong. Indeed, the very act of seeking that monopoly shows just how wrong they are.”

“You can be a progressive and love your country: I do. You can cherish this nation and yet want to make it better: all of us in this room do. You can be proud of your citizenship and dedicated to progress.”

Ms Plibersek, Labor’s education and training spokeswoman, delivered the sixth Wran Lecture — established to honour former NSW Premier Neville Wran — at the Trades Hall in Sydney on Tuesday night.

The thoughtful but often partisan speech criticised Malcolm Turnbull and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton for believing citizenship should be exclusive and ridiculed the proposed citizenship test requiring “a university-level” English exam.

The oath that Australians swear was an “elegant expression” of the real meaning of citizenship, Ms Plibersek said. It required a declaration of loyalty to Australia and its people coupled with respect for democracy, rights and liberties, and the rule of law.

A Labor government would require all school students to learn the pledge and recite it regularly.

“Encouraging people to pledge loyalty to their fellow Australians when they decide to make this country their permanent home is a powerful way of joining our story,” Ms Plibersek said.

“Because whether you’re born here or choose Australia as your new home, the pledge sets out a template for inclusive citizenship.”

While disagreeing with the survey on same sex marriage, Ms Plibersek said the turnout was a demonstration of “democratic defiance” and showed citizens were “better, braver and more decent” than the government.

“I don’t want to see any more of these ‘innovations in democracy’ that submit people’s relationships to public judgment,” she said. “Equality isn’t the gift of the majority — it’s fundamental, it’s indivisible and it should be as much a part of citizenship as the pledge itself.”

As all rights and liberties needed to be protected, Ms Plibersek said Labor supported religious freedom and protections for churches in relation to same-sex marriage but not the right to refuse a service or a good based on sexuality.

More broadly, Ms Plibersek said democracy involved more than voting in elections and should be reflected in how people are treated at home, at work and in the community.

“Democracy gives us protection from others who would dominate us, but it also means a commitment from us not to misuse our own power,” she said. “It means acknowledging our responsibility to contribute to the collective good in the best way we can.”

The delayed return of the House of Representatives, Ms Plibersek argued, represented a threat to democracy and was only designed to save Mr Turnbull’s job.

“You can’t just suspend democracy when it becomes inconvenient,” she said. “You can’t turn your back on our institutions because they threaten your majority or your grip on power or your party room. That is the slippery slope towards authoritarianism.”