We need calm, not Oz Day ugliness
THE vast majority of Australians want to be able to celebrate Australia Day on January 26 as a national event where everyone is included from the original inhabitants to our many migrants and those whose family line runs back to the convicts and colonisers of Europe.
Whatever the merits of the argument to move the date, many suspect the motives of the privileged white virtue-signallers and identity politics mavens that formed a fair part of the rag tag protest in Melbourne yesterday.
Everyone is free to have their say and to peacefully protest.
But how ugly were the scenes in Melbourne yesterday where a rally organiser told the crowd: “F..k Australia, hope it burns to the ground”.
We do things much more gracefully in Geelong with only peace and goodwill at yesterday’s civic and citizenship ceremonies.
Let’s be clear: Those who want Australia Day completely scrapped — who can find nothing good to say about this great nation and its people — are in the wrong and have suspect motives.
It is possible to be sensitive to the offences of history and the plight of the indigenous while still being a patriot and a proud Australian whether you are white, black or anything else.
There are many aspects of our national character that deserve recognition and acclaim.
As tragic as the early chapters of our European history are, the ones that follow also feature courage, mateship and fights for a fair go for all.
We are a great society. As former PM Paul Keating has said we are a better society than even the USA which is the exceptional leader of the free world and one of the few dozen functional countries in this turmoil-ridden world.
Everyone is free to be critical, But if someone actually detests this country, is blind to it’s strengths, and redeeming features, no one is forcing them to remain here.