Dear Foxy,

«What is being discussed here is our national identity, not our individual one»

What is being discussed here is an erroneous concept and I find it my duty to correct this: the use of plural tense does not change the simple fact that identity cannot be modified - either A is the same as B, or it is not.
Of course, A can FEEL like B today and like C tomorrow, but this can never change who and what A is.

This mistake of assigning identities to what are not identical, ought to be corrected, not only national "identities", but also for example the popular notions of racial, gender and sexual "identities".

We HAVE a body, we HAVE a gender, we HAVE a sexual orientation, we HAVE feelings and ideas, we HAVE a house, a car, and also a passport - but none of that touches on who we are.

Almost 50% are un-Australian & if I had my way I'd make that 100 % !

Oops ! Meant 0%.

Again I find myself agreeing with Foxy.

Australia is made up of over 25 million individual identities, an assortment of cultures with differing beliefs and practices which makes us one of the most diverse societies in the world. We should not confuse nationalism with identity. Those of the hard right will call out others they perceive as Un-Australian, in reality these extremists types will only identify with people of a similar ilk, generally, white, English speaking, of Anglo-Saxon origin.

Unfortunately too often those harbouring the far right nationalistic view of what is an ideal member of society convince themselves, others "not like them", are a dangerous anti section of society which needs to be controlled, or in extreme cases eliminated. History is full of examples where minorities have been scapegoated as undesirable within society and treated accordingly. Thankfully Australia is not in that position, although a small far right extremist clique with such ideas of nationalism does exist within society and is an ever-present danger to others.

Jujutsu,

Read the following link:

http://www.abc.net.au.ra/australia/pdf/national_.pdf

I have no further wish to discuss anything with you.

Dear Paul,

Thanks!

Here's the link again:

http://www.abc.net.au/ra/australia/pdf/national_id.pdf