Ranier....whether aspirational or real.. we need the aspirational and should teach them.

There will always be a gap between reality and theory and it will depend on the behavior of many individuals.
The point is, having a reference... enables us to evaluate behavior.

Brainy.. I absolutely DON'T want people coming here who's basic ideology will ultimately be a threat to that freedom.

Yes.. we must be selective and picky.

The term I use is 'Socially positive discrimination' but I might change the word 'discrimination' to 'selection'.

Such a move would be damned either way.... the open borders mob would call us RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACISTS and if you had open borders, my mob would say its plain cultural suicide.

So, in the long run, we need to have convictions about the best direction forward and be prepared for the inevitable flack, stand fast and stay the course.

There is a beautiful illustration of this in the life of Jesus.

Luke 9:51

"As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem."

The word for 'resolutely' in greek is more like 'set his face like a flint' and when you consider that he knew exactly what awaited....yet went on....its a solemn and worthy example for all of us.

BrainDrain,

If you have to ask others what Australian values are, you will never know. How sad.

I always liked the French one's "Liberté, égalité, fraternité".

They just don't seem to make much difference in practice though do they? France has hardly extolled these virtues in it's history.

It's all well and good to have values like these, but they mean little if a nations people don't abide.

I fear it's too late for a few simple words to make a difference in our situation, where the 'undesireables' are for the most part already citizens, or the children of migrants who were born Australian (even though they don't identify as Aussie).

B_D,
I agree with much, approaching all, you said here.

'Thank You. Come Again!' : )

Leigh,
Hmmm, I will do my best to be Nice - since that is one of my theoretical Values (OLO'ers may realise my theory doesn't always see eye-to-eye with practice).

Having lived here for 36 years (75%) of my life and undergone and met citizenship requirements of our government i consider i have earned the right to be called Australian.

As an Australian, I have Values i aspire to, but like all humans, often fail to reach. These include, but are not limited to:
Honesty; Honour(Trustworthyness); Willingness to lend a helping hand to those less fortunate than myself (Charity?); Pursuit of Knowledge and eliminating ignorance and bigotry; and 'Niceness'.

If you see some kind of need to denigrate me and to demolish a desire to help bring this greatly divided Nation (See Article discussions: Reflections on a Multicultural Nation # 5153) a little closer together by establishing this thread and attempting to define values clearly so all can refer to them and look up to them for guidance of just what being an Australian is at times when there may be some 'debate' regarding them, then i suggest:

A: you take a good, long, hard look at your values in relation to your action and motives, and
B: you shut your ill-considerate Yap (at least on OLO but best if it appiles to all areas in my Opinion) until you get a brain capable of some kind of integrity and expressing your ideas without pulling down another's! (Oops - Theory vs Practice again. Bugger!)

Or is Tall Poppy Syndrome (little man syndrome) one of your 'Aussie' Values?

Oh Yes, add Integrity to my Value list!

Any Intelligent comments from people on what their Aussie Values are?

They don't have to be Uniquely Australian - just ones we want as a Nation in our 'Nationals'.

BrainDrain, I was looking for something more than Freedom because all to often when people talk about freedom they only mean freedom for those who think like themselves.

They should be free to live out fundy christain beliefs but others should not be free to be gay. They should be free to wear head to toe clothing but others should not be free to wear a bikini (or less).

The idea of values as aspirations makes sense, values are rarely enforcable nor are we always able to live up to our own values. Nor should they apply just to migrants.

This thread is a good idea, it has been interesting to see on other threads how little some who crow most loudly about Australian values share with me by way of values (my family does not go back as far as Rainers in this country but has been here for a number of generations).

It's all to easy to imagine the values of our peers are the values of the wider community, that is not always the case.

R0bert

R0bert,
Freedom, Equality and Brotherhood - sound's pretty good to me!

Brotherhood in Australia is not very PC (separates us from 'Sisters') and might have been replaced here with 'Mateship' before people like Howard started using it to try to show he is 'one of the lads' and people like Brian Burke (former jailbird WA premier) who clearly hands out jobs to his mates and makes illicit deals with both serving politicians and big business (his 'Mates') as a lobbyist non-grata under the same (now corrupted) principle got their grubby little paws into it.

If we could somehow get the Mateship of Anzacs at war back we could give it another go I reckon.

I think you're right - Live and let Live works better than Freedom. Freedom inmplies the freedom to break laws and long held 'Tradition', and starting your own 'divisions' and we need more Unity of purpose, I believe. (while retaining the diversity necessary for growth and warding off 'illnesses' or stagnation).

Equality is good too but maybe Live and let Live covers that?

It is important to recognise that Australians should all have as equal opportunities (same wage for same job) as is practicable and fair to all.

Given Aussie's love of a Fair Go - Maybe 'Fairness' better embodies that?