anne robinson
"but belief that one country is inherently better than any other slips into the realms of intolerance and hate."

I will unhesitatingly state that Australia is superior to North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Cuba, and a host of other countries.
Intolerance is sometimes needed to maintain certain standards of living.
Or maybe Lefty intolerance is the only good type of intolerance?

On a further note, why is it Lefty (re)interpreters of the past cannot recognize the positives that the British gave us? Why is racism and imperialism always the centre, and only, focus? Where is the thanks for the advances in technology, medicine, sanitation, roads, etc?
It is this reason as to why the researchers you speak of were ridiculed. There goal is to impose guilt; they have no interest in acknowledging the positives. People have figured out the researchers intentions.

We have to shut down all arts departments, it's the only way to save the country.

Quite a puerile approach, Anne, but maturity will sort it out, if you do not become too fixed in your approach.

The nonsense of “racism” causes this sort of addled thinking.

A clear and sensible approach was supplied by David Stove, the head of the Philosophy Department at Sydney University. Roger Kimball outlined it very well.
“He (David Stove) defined “racism”—a neologism so recent, he points out, that it was not in the OED in 1971—as the belief that “some human races are inferior to others in certain respects, and that it is sometimes proper to make such differences the basis of our behaviour towards people.” Although this proposition is constantly declared to be false, Stove says, “everyone knows it is true, just as everyone knows it is true that people differ in age, sex, health, etc., and that it is sometimes proper to make these differences the basis of our behaviour towards them.”
For example, if you are recruiting potential basketball champions, you would be mad not to be more interested in American Negroes than in Vietnamese… . Any rational person, recruiting an army, will be more interested in Germans than in Italians. If what you want in people is aptitude for forming stable family-ties, you will prefer Italians or Chinese to American Negroes. Pronounced mathematical ability is more likely to occur in an Indian or a Hungarian than in an Australian Aboriginal. If you are recruiting workers, and you value docility above every other trait in a worker, you should prefer Chinese to white Americans. And so on. “
http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/Who-was-David-Stove--3368
Understand this, and you have begun to overcome the unfortunate lefty bias exhibited in your article.

Where is the balancing study of how racially prejudiced are those who refuse to fly the Australian flag. Didn't they swear allegiance to this country when they were trying to gain citizenship.

This is typical of the left wing academics it is always their own people they attack not a word of any wrong doing on the other side.

We are told we shouldn't celebrate Christmas because we might offend somebody and now some academic is telling us we should be careful not to offend anybody by flying our flag. What next?

The Aboriginies seem to forget that they would now be under Japanese control if our people hadn't fought a war with the Japanese. I think all of the sons and fathers who were lost fighting that war have paid in blood for ownership of this country

'I will unhesitatingly state that Australia is superior to North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Cuba, and a host of other countries'.

Talk about the soft bigotry of low expectations - you must have a very low opinion of Australia indeed if you think being better than North Korea is a ringing endorsement.

Positives about Australia are pretty easy to find, and one of the best things is that we can strive for higher standards in the way we treat each other, and especially the ways we treat the worst off in our society. Australia is so much more than flags and belligerent slogans, but unfortunately for many on Australia Day that appears to be all 'Australia' is for them.

timdy, did you deliberately take that post out of context?

If not have another look at the post. The subtitle of the article in the comments section is a claim which Aristocrat showed the error of, in context it makes sense to use the worst cases. If Aristocrat had used a list of better countries then the point may be muted by debate of specific aspects of those countries.

Do you consider it to be intolerant or hate to claim that Australia is inherently better than North Korea or a statement of present realities?

As for the article itself there does seem to be some chicken and egg about it. The author speaks of her fear of the flag based on the racism of some who make an issue of the flag, I'd suggest that part of the way the flag is used by those she mentions is partly driven by a reaction to sentiments such as those she promotes.

I don't much like the "We're full" stickers and similar either but believe that they are driven in part by the prominence of the denial of issues which are hurting people.

Not so much a "back-lash to growing awareness of these problems" but a backlash to denial of some other issues.

I've not looked into the research the author mentions but like others have seen how genuine research in some area's has been replaced with advocacy work designed to promote agenda's and views rather than uncover truth. Easy to understand the scepticism.

R0bert