Padraic P. McGuinness
26 January 1995
Sydney Morning Herald 
my italics

TODAY SHOULD be a day on which Australians celebrate what unites us as a nation, rather than what divides us. Australia Day is our national day, and political, social and other divisions should be seen as the secondary matters they are.

The only possible exception to this is the fact that some Aborigines like to see the anniversary of Captain Arthur Phillip's taking possession of NSW (as then defined) in the name of the British crown as inappropriate as an occasion for celebration. They have a point, and there might indeed be a case for a change of date so as remove this unfortunate reminder. But settlement by Europeans was in any case inevitable, and given the much more civilised behaviour of the British than that of any alternative colonial power of the time, the British settlement was far better from the Aboriginal point of view than any alternative possible at the time.

However, the date remains sensitive. Since Australia Day also marks the more or less official end of the summer holidays, it would be useful to fix a proximate date - perhaps February 1. It should be a public holiday by agreement of all the States, celebrated on the day on which it falls, and not assimilated to a long weekend.

But what is the nature of Australia Day? It has had a tendency in recent times to be corrupted into a political more than a community occasion. The Governor-General is the one person in Australia who represents the unity of the nation, and, in the felicitous phrase of a former Governor-General, Sir Ninian Stephen, "represents the nation to itself". The State governors do not do this, nor does any politician, least of all the Prime Minister. Yet the politicians have tried to make the whole celebration into an occasion of which they have the carriage and when they purport to speak for the community as a whole.

In principle, the Governor-General, and he alone, should be the spokesman for Australia Day. The role of the politicians ought to be zero, or minimal. On Australia Day, also, the honours which are awarded to various members of the community are announced, and if these are to mean anything they should be seen to be awarded on a basis which is independent of political favours and free of interference, as at present. Yet the Government is preparing the ground for a massive rorting of the honours system (as I pointed out on January 21). In addition there are absurdities like the award of "Australian of the Year" by an odd little committee which has a predilection for popular entertainers, who are hardly worthy of special honour on such a day. This should simply be disposed of. Awards of any kind are, however, of little significance. What is important is the nature of the celebration.

The emphasis of the day, as the celebration of European settlement, is determined largely by its date. The virtue of shifting to February 1 would be that settlement could continue to be commemorated on January 26, but our nationhood, which in fact dates from January 1, 1901, would be celebrated as the main concern of Australia Day. (Though one would expect that on January 1, 2001, there will be special centenary celebrations.) This would also become a celebration of our constitution, the fundamental law of Australia, which whatever its defects still remains one of the great democratic documents of this century. At some stage it will be transformed into a republican constitution, but there is absolutely no reason why there should be any particular urgency about this, since we are already a totally independent nation in fact as well as in name.

HOWEVER, it is inevitable that the Prime Minister will thrust himself to the fore today, presenting himself as the representative of the people rather than the first minister of the Crown which is all he is. As he did when prancing up and down in front of Pope John Paul II, and giving one of his less than honest speeches in which he attempts to redefine Australia as a community and a polity in a way to which the community has never assented, tacitly or by vote, he will undoubtedly wave the republican flag and make claims to his achievements. That is, he will attempt to steal Australia Day from the community and make it the property of himself and his government.

From Kirribilli House, the official guest house originally earmarked for important overseas visitors, but now taken over as a prime ministerial palace and summer residence even though a more than adequate residence is provided in Canberra (why does the Prime Minister not live in his electorate when he is in Sydney?), we will have to suffer homilies which have nothing to do with any genuine representation of the nation to itself.

This is a pity, since there is much to be said and important ceremonies at which our head of state should preside, alone.

There will be much talk of multiculturalism, as indeed there should be. We should rejoice in the marvellous diversity of the Australian community, and the fact that we have enjoyed high rates of immigration which has led not to the creation of divided and antagonistic communities, but in the assimilation of all newcomers into a richer Australian community in which traditions are respected but in which there is an overwhelming ethos of tolerance and "live and let live". There will also be much talk of the constitution, citizenship and sovereignty. Much of this will edge over into partisan propaganda, but it certainly is desirable that we should celebrate the constitution and our open and democratic citizenry. Reform of the constitution before it is agreed, or before the details of any proposal are worked out, should be left to another time.

These matters will be canvassed in a more appropriate manner at the special conference at the old Parliament House in Canberra, which is being organised by the official body entrusted with encouraging non-partisan debate on these matters, the Constitutional Centenary Foundation. This conference, in May, will be titled Australian Governance in a Global Society and will deal with the issue of sovereignty both in reality (how much sovereignty have we in fact conceded to international institutions and conventions?) and symbolically (does a monarchical structure like that we have in fact diminish the reality of our independence?).

Inevitably, also, every sectional or interest group, every ideologue and advocate of one nostrum or another, whether political, environmental or social, will join in a cacophony of claims to be the true spokesmen for Australia Day and the Australian community. They are not - but we can celebrate the society in which they can freely exist. The great virtue of the Australian community is that it is not obsessed with nation, identity or citizenship.