It is no surprise that those pushing the line: patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel (or a close approximation of it) are from the left of the spectrum. The parties they support --even though they themselves may not have woken up to it-- aspire to corral the world inhabitants into one giant commune.

Steelwools point about nationalism having unique qualities which instills a << (hateful)sense of 'us' and 'them'>> is bogus.

There a couple of famous psychological experiments wherein school boys (bosom buddy classmates) were divided into different groups and their separateness was nurtured --even with something as innocuous as different coloured socks & group stories. They quickly developed a deep intergroup antipathy. All it took was conditioning in a separate identity. State sponsored Multiculturalism does it every day, but no one of the left wants to notice it.

The two major offshoots of Judaism,Christianity and Islam, couldn't be any further from nationalism, they both discount national identities and proffer a greater human-wide identity --but they have been responsible for some of the most horrendous hate crimes.

Paul says: yes I know that racism in not endemic to whites... then slips straight back to his partys-line ...with these examples:
1) << [The treatment of] Chinese on the [Oz] goldfields…
2) <<extreme acts of racism [on] poor blacks [post-US civil war]
3) <<[The treatment of] Southern Europeans [immigrants post-WWII in Oz]

How many examples of non-white racism do you count in Paul’s “examples”eh?

And this is THE PROBLEM with groups like the Greens --when it comes to outing “racism” they are all one-eyed.

And as for this (from the same Paul): << middle class Asians …they want an "Aussie" tradesman as they don't trust their own because they'll rip them off,>>
It's total and utter BS!
I have never experienced that & I have very close relationship with the Chinese community. I think he is generalizing from his dealings with two or three individuals at most!

SteeleRedux, your ripples of empathy though get weaker, not stronger, the more distant you get from the starting point.

One's feelings for one's family are not going to "equal" those toward a stranger from an unrelated people, on the other side of the planet, whom you never even meet.

You're also presuming there is a universal goal and we have some obligation to keep going further until we reach it.
If we don't, there's something wrong with us.

This reflects the "Christianity without Christ" at the heart of multiculturalism/anti-racism.

It's a religious perspective, not a pragmatic political one.
It's a "sin" (and now made a crime: discrimination, vilification) to not be universally loving.

I don't have to love all beings, all humans or even my mother.
If this is the new religion, I am a heretic and blasphemer and proud of it.

If I weigh the same as a duck, I'm made of wood, and therefore... a Nazi!

Yuyutsu "Empathy for all sentient beings is admirable.
Identification is not."

Speaking of identification, why should I consider an immigrant (whose psychosocial self developed in an alien context for many years, including the critically important early childhood) "Australian" (a common identity) just because they live here, in the same geographical location?

Nhoj, just keep repeating "fear, hate, Nazi, fear, hate, Nazi".

If you think that's what you're dealing with *now* with me, you're going to get a big shock in the socially/economically dysfunctional future, Boy Who Cried Adolf.

Brains! Brains!
Must eat Hitler's brain!

When anyone brings up Hitler and the Nazis in their defense, we *KNOW* they've totally lost the debate.

Example = Shockadelic just wrote that I "repeated Nazi, Nazi" in my posts. Ok son, tell us which in post I used the "Nazi" term. That's right son, I DIDN'T.

We all know Toneliar Abbott is a liar. Now Shockaliar has just been outed as a liar too.

Poor little Shockaliar. He tries so hard. Ha ha ha.

"But what of the *children* of Chinese-Turkish parents who marry and have kids with the children of Tongan-Mexican parents.

And then those children grow up and marry Zulu-Tamil-Korean-Tahitians.

Who the hell are those people going to "be"?
What kind of identity is even possible for such poor sods?"

That's easy, Shockaholic, they will be AUSTRALIANS.

Somewhere along the way they will have also intermarried with people of English, Irish, Scottish, German and Italian descent (being the larger ethnic groups). They will speak English, play Aussie rules and cricket and soccer, surf, eat tacos, put kimchi on their yuros and BBQ snags, wear their hair in corn-rows, sing in Christian choirs, go to Gallipoli, do a gap year in London or Beijing (where they will burst into tears when they smell gumleaves - China had big eucalypt forests) and love all the things about Australia mentioned in previous posts.

What else could they be but Australians with that background combined with that culture?

In 1988 an historian characterised Australian history in four 50 years phases.

1788-1838 An Aboriginal country with a minority of Europeans in a handful of places on the coast. 1788 Indigenous pop. est. 3/4-1 million. 1838 Non-indigenous pop. ca 150,000. (Probably overall pop. lower than in 1788)

1838-1888 A predominantly immigrant country courtesy of the gold rushes, mostly British, but with people from a remarkably wide range of places - other European especially Italian and German, Chinese, Afghan, Indian, South American, etc. Majority Aboriginal in 1838, but well outnumbered by 1888. 1888 Non-indigenous pop. 3 million. (x20)

1888-1938 'Australian'-born (with intermarriage between all above) begin to predominate. 'Australian' culture crystallises (Gallipoli etc.) 1888 3 million - 1938 7 million. (x2)

1938-1988 The second major immigration, post WW2. Initially European, but substantial Asian (Vietnamese) after 1970. Popn. more than doubles, from ca 7 million to 16.5 million. (x2.4)

1988-2038 We are half way through continuing major immigration with the range of sources now world-wide. By 2038 Australia will be as different from 1988, as 1988 was from 1938, as 1938 was from 1888, as etc. Popn. 2011 was 21.5million. (x1.3)

So what is Australia? Continual change - continual invigoration. If it didn't change it wouldn't be Australia. No need for angst.

A final note.

About 20 odd years ago I visited the Sovereign Hill reconstructed gold mining village at Ballarat. I chatted to one of the managers about the nature of tourism there. He told me of Vietnamese family who had recently visited. Following their naturalisation ceremony in Melbourne, they had celebrated by visiting Sovereign Hill to learn about what was now 'their' history.

Anyone can, everyone has, become Australian. Love it or hate it, they just have to see it as their own.