Thanks for Ghassan Hage's brilliantly insightful and deeply human piece.It is good that it appears on the open forum of OLO as well as on New Matilda. It is one of the best and most important articles I have read on Australian politics and society for years. I love its humour, its civility, its refusal to be intimidated by the self-styled gatekeepers of our country. Leigh's typical response has already demonstrated the truth of Ghassan's argument - there will be many more such responses.

I have just sent in a reply to the government discussion paper on citizenship testing. It is a public response and will be up on my website www.tonykevin.com later today. It is relevant to this thread.

Who are "the rest of us", Leigh ? You mean you and the other assimilationists who don't like gays, women or migrants and who have to charge up their waning testosterone at noisy sporting events ? which actually puts yo'all in a tiny minority of probable bikies, hoods and racist rednecks. Anyway don't include me in your statements about "the rest of us." In my vision of my country, and I'm sixth generation white Aust., it is counter-productive in the extreme to oblige people to abide by "Aussie values" . A supposedly tolerant and easy-going society would never try to impose this on anyone. This would be the most absurd contradiction and I'm shocked that Kim Beazley would not recognise the weakness of his position.

Yes, thanks Dr Hage. Australian society is enriched by your presence.

Ironically, John Howard would not have a problem with Dr Hage being an aussie. He wouldn't call him names. Pity Dr Hage doesn't return the favor.

John Howard's comments are not talking about people like Dr Hage. Dr Hage has assimilated to the extent we would expect. The problem is not the Dr Hage's, it is the ones who don't want to speak english, who don't want to learn the aussie values that Dr Hage says he already has. The Lebanese gangs that harrassed women on Cronulla's beaches are the ones who need to be 'assimilated'. Perhaps Dr Hage should write an article calling them ugly instead of trying to play the victim card.

You sound like a nice bloke Dr Hage. I suppose u would have to at least pretend to be a Howard hater to get where u are academically. Obviously u are not a devouted muslim or u would not be able to share our values.

What exactly are the "Australian Values" to which Jackboot Johny refers to anyway? These values have changed over time. What may have been correct 50 years ago has no meaning today.

Are these "Australian Values" actually real and practiced in society, or are they some imagined or remembered idealisation from the past? Do we really give people a "fair-go" or do we just like to think we do?

Is an "Australian Value" the "No" vote to two Military Conscription votes in 1916 and 1917 or the government imposed Conscription of the Vietnam War?