Here we happily go again. Aussie Aussie Aussie, oi oi oi. Yes, it's Australia Day, when we celebrate hundreds of decent, dedicated and talented people whose efforts add heft and beauty to our society.
Before all else, we at The Age would like to express respect for these fine Australians, people, usually through unsung effort, who improve the world by applying values many claim define our nation.
Photo: Darrian Traynor
It is uplifting that many believe the notion of "a fair go" is our nation's quintessential principle. And perhaps it is, but we would like to offer a few thoughts about that.
First, fairness – and its twin, equality of opportunity – is claimed as a core value by people the world over. Think France, where the notion is enshrined in the national slogan – liberty, fraternity, equality.
Think the US, where it is enshrined in the country's national slogan, born in Thomas Jefferson's draft of the Declaration of Independence.
It says, in part: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
In saying this, we do not seek to undermine the importance of the "fair go" principle, but, rather, to buttress it by saying it is so compelling that it is actually a universal human value.
This is a fine thing, for at a time of angst and insecurity in so many nations, it underscores one of the most important realities: the things that unite humanity are far greater in number and importance than the things that divide us and cause conflict.
So, on this national day, perhaps we should consider and comprehend that the world might be better were there a little less nationalism.
Second, while we should on this day – and generally – recognise the efforts of skilful and selfless citizens, we should stress, too, how much better our nation and world would be were more people to emulate these enlightened exemplars.
For, sadly, there are many in our community who do not get a fair go – and in most cases not through faults of their own, but as a result of misfortune and lack of opportunity.
There is not room for detail here, but think, inter alia, about the impact of family violence, mental ill health, child abuse, professional and cultural injustice to women and the gaps between outcomes for Indigenous Australians and the rest of the community.
Third, given that our nation has clearly been enriched by, and was founded on, immigration and cultural diversity, the approach of our recent governments to asylum seekers and refugees is bizarre, shameful and unsustainable.
So, The Age will continue to advocate a real, not merely rhetorical, fair go. We will continue to celebrate and amplify the contribution of the sort of people in today's honours list.
And thus today we note, yet again, as our comprehensive coverage shows, that women still do not get a fair go in Australia. The fact that they account for only about a third of the honours list does not at all necessarily reflect negatively on the selection panel.
Rather, it is a function of the undeniable and lamentable fact that men continue to dominate political, commercial, social and economic power.
But it is Australia's Indigenous people who rightly have the greatest concerns about Australia Day. Their trauma at the violence and then ongoing dispossession and injustice they have suffered is undeniable and utterly valid.
While we do not believe our national day should be moved from this date, as that would cause more division than unification, we do think it behoves the entire population to recognise and respect that it is not a celebratory day for our first peoples. For they have not had a fair go.
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