I do not claim to have read all OLO discussions and articles so If I am copyng another thread please advise and I will regroup, But, In the abscence of any other such discussion...

I pose the question: Just which values are we going to claim as Australian and seek for all Australians to uphold at fear of Expulsion or Deportation (and just who are we going to make accept our 'rejects' is another question entirely. Nauru perhaps? - new discussion please someone?)

So let's hear some Answers. I shall be listing those most strongly supported on my website and suggesting our PM (whoever it is) and Foreign Minister be making them part of any future Immigrant Policy as well as enshrining them clearly and unambiguously in our Justice Systems.

If we claim Aussie values I want to have them written down somewhwere so ALL can abide by them.

As a start, I choose Honesty (Speaking ALL truth relevant to a particular topic not just to the goal you want to achieve and incorporating the will to eliminate false information or belief based upon falsehood or missing information) as a desired True Australian value.

Any Others?

(How in heck any politician can agree to upholding that value in full I cannot imagine, but I think it is of vital importance).

I'll go for a live and let live. That in expecting freedom for your own beliefs and choices you give that same freedom to others.

Those who want the freedom to follow ancient middle eastern shepherd gods need to accept that others don't need to live by their interpretation of the dictates of that or any other god.

R0bert

Brainy... this subject has had a fair amount of attention in previous threads.. I suggest you google the subject and include onlineopinion in your key words.

Some values I note are:

-Language is English.
-Best and FAIRest concept....(quite Australian I note)
-Love for this country more than ones own ethnicity. You call yourself 'Australian' of such and such background (migrant generation only)
-Greetings. 'handshake' not kiss hand, bow or rub noses.

To be honest, its quite hard to actually articulate all the values, but I can assure you an anthropologist would have no trouble doing it.
http://www.anthropology.arts.uwa.edu.au/home/research/urban
Thats a link to an academic geospecific locality Perth.

-Fair go for all, and not just for 'my mob'.
-Rejection of any social or demographic trend which would threaten the point above. (?)
-Male/female roles ?

This link also may give some perspective and history.
http://www.convictcreations.com/research/identity.htm

Hope this helps

Live and let live!

Does that equate to 'Freedom'?

Just want to have a one or two word 'Value' there is all I am asking.

If you care to answer you may want to provide a possible solution to the 'freedom' we might have to allow others into the country who may wish the freedom to kill us or take our country by force if they did not share the will to Live and Let Live? Would we be honour bound by such a Value to let them??

How about if they wanted to change our 'national' Religion or similarly held contemporary national belief through a democratic weight of majority numbers? (Australia wide or just in one electorate)

Would we be free to let bigots gain political power?

Live and let live, like Honesty, sounds fine to me in theory. Trouble arises when we all have to live 'in practice' - True? Still we have a start.

Honesty, Freedom,... any others?
Any proviso's?

Earlier this month Beazley called for Australian visa forms to include a statement of Australian values so all people arriving in the country would understand what was expected of them. (especially those people who might cause trouble, you know who they are!)

Then I watched question time in federal parliament and realized it was a joke.

So braindrain, we could write out a set of values, adopt them, even tattoo them on our children's foreheads but these are matters of acculturation.

I for one don't believe for a minute that Australian's values are those that people say they are. They are more aspirational values, not actual, parochial but not consciously followed.

Rainier,

I was kinda afraid of that. But i figure that if more people talk about it and can reach agreement, or at least a rapprochement,
we might actually be able to Unify all peoples in this Great Nation just a little more and be better able to prevent Howard, Beazley et al from gaining cheap points in opinion polls and dividing us against one another and increasing innate bigotries whenever it suits their purposes.

Besides I want to know just what we Aussies think our values are and think they deserve to be enshrined somehow.

There is an undeniable gap between what we think our values should be and what reality shows them to actually be but writing them down and being able to refer to them for 'guidance' and getting our Justice system to uphold them somewhat more can only improve the situation... No?

B_D,

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll do the google and follow your links - Appreciated.

RObert, Liked the input, anything to add? : )