Peter writes, 'A nation of twenty million people without a dominant ancestry needs an inclusive national story.'

Peter, we have that story but we rather not talk about it thank you.

You see Peter, we are all refugees here, but we live in denial writing nice essays about democracy and mateship etc etc ....

When we become a nation, and that looks increasingly debatable, it will be in spite of our history, not because of it (Pilger wrote that some time ago and it still holds true).

Our history is written in blood which we refuse to acknowledge. Howard can apologise to veterans and others but not to the Indigenous people against who murder, rape and stealing became the acts of barbarian hordes as they grabbed vast tracts of land that rivaled in size the European countries from which they fled.

Peter, we are all refugees - refugees that now erect steel barriers to stop other refugees fleeing from madmen masquerading as national leaders to enjoy those values of which you write. The world, one day, will demand of Australia justice for what we have done. Democracy, mateship and country might come under some severe testing.

There's a point at which democracy fails and that's the point at which one etnic group(tribe)having failed to intregate, and having grown large in numbers suddenly demands a sepratist state. Then the suicide bombers(freedom fighters) start their bombings in earnest.

A refusal to marry outside of your tribe is the ultimate racism. Its the old black daddy doesnt want chidren to marry white and white daddy doesnt want children to marry black. You can not hold multr -culturalism up as not racist when it is based on the ultimate racism.

We saved the aboriginies from the Japanese who were a lot more cruel and barbaric then we were. They could not have held on to this land with only spears as weapons.
This country was taken at the point of a gun and it is still held at the point of a gun. If we only had a few spears and sticks and shovels here to defend ourselves;there are some very militarised forces to our north who are in desperate need of land and resources who would have been here like yesterday to take the place.

Forget your law courts the army with the biggest weapons are the ones who will be making the laws if they overrun us not the judges.

This is all about a hyped up contest to see how far grown men can pee. However no longer little boys they know that this sort of rubbish will feed the emotions of nationalism, feed the headlines, confuse the issues.

But seeing who can pee the furthest is such a manly thing!

As others join the stupidity, new Australia only attributes are found, so different from others. We will minutely dissect the meanings of racism and xenophobia and find others are so.

The values are in various forms those to which people of good will aspire.

The values here played upon are those of difference and fear, to the profit of our leaders.

This diversion taking the heat off the “democratic” decision to invade Iraq , Iran? and the mess we have. Whilst religions spruke their bill boards for members targeting difference not similarity, as our great leaders lie to the electorate, the essence of democracy and play their little egotistical games, claimed such to be of national interest not their own, necessitating even more wealth squandering in pursuit of goals whose enforcement by might is a forgone disaster. But power comes to reside more and more with those who play these games.

Little boys indeed who want the world’s toys and thoughts to be theirs alone.
Each needs to arm itself however contrary to agreed behaviour for with national hype the small voice of the men of good will everywhere is lost in the cataclysm of patriotism.

We were once a British colonial outpost and now we are an American imperial outpost. Where would John Howard's neo-19th century style global statesmanship be without it. Certainly little Johnny knows it too, as seen by the way he agrees with Georgie Boy Bush without daring a word out of place.

Where our true national pride can be found in this, begs the question. But looks like we'ere stuck with it.

This is the first time that I have visited this site, first forum that I have read. I normally don't open an account or get involved, but after reading all the posts to Peters discussion I feel I need respond. It ashames me to see that such a large percentage of the responses posted are by such racist, redneck people calling themselves Ozzies. A large amount of us "Ozzies" have at least one parent or "grandparents" who were born overseas. Have you asked your family how they were treated when they arrived on our fair shores? Asked them how they felt when they were made to feel unwelcome?
I know that we Ozzies have ALWAYS been a bit racist but nowhere near the level that we and our pollies like Howard are today.