“I AM you are, we are Australian”.
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These lyrics of Bruce Woodley’s reached the airwaves again as we celebrated Australia Day 2015.
They seem so simple, so easy to say and to sing, and yet are deeply symbolic and thought-provoking, especially in this era when the refugee and asylum seeker issue remains unresolved and unrelenting.
Stopping the boats is not a solution to the problem, only creating problems of greater dimensions on a more widespread canvas.
With our Australian Aboriginal heritage it seems a contradiction in terms that we can dare to talk about citizenship rights, when these first people are not even recognised in the constitution.
Apart from the Aboriginal tribes who have lived here for thousands of years, it seems correct to say that most of the Australian population are either immigrants or descendants of immigrants of one kind or another.
It was the British government who offloaded British and Irish convicts onto these shores as a means of resolving their problems at home in the late 18th century.
Over the decades, especially after WWII, Australia became a desired destination for people from all parts of Europe looking for a fresh start away from their war-torn homelands.
More recently, escapees from the horrors of the Middle East, Asia, and the Pacific have become part of Australia.
Between us we can either make or break our wide brown land.
We can choose to put aside our prejudices, our ill-informed opinions and our criticism of race, colour and creed, and pull together to make “fair go” a reality.
Let us make true the phrase in our national anthem when we sing, “For those who’ve come across the seas, we’ve endless plains to share”.
Of course commonsense has to prevail in all aspects of resettlement, but years of detention, isolation and emotional and mental oppression can hardly be said to be helpful.
Hopefully, 2015 will bring some new light on this issue and let justice and compassion prevail.