Across the country on Tuesday, more than 12,000 people will become Australian citizens at ceremonies infused with excitement and hope. The dreams of these new citizens, who come from more than 130 countries, will become part of our shared ambitions as a nation and for years to come we will benefit from the contributions they will make to our society.
They pledge their loyalty to a country of staggering natural beauty and abundant opportunity. We are a stable and peaceful nation, with a society that values democracy, equality and the rule of law. Our collective effort to suppress COVID-19 has allowed our economy to grow again after the shock of last year and has largely protected our way of life, while other countries are struggling to cope with rising case numbers and social unrest.
Restrictions imposed upon us by our federal and state governments to curb infections have not always been welcomed, nor have they all been reasonable. But they have been the subject of vigorous debate, which only improves the health of our democracy. The way Australians have broadly come together during the pandemic emphasises the connections at the heart of citizenship: the relationships between an individual, the state and the society that state serves.
When you pledge your loyalty to a country, you become entitled to its protection, but you also take on responsibilities towards that nation and its community. Over the past year we have shouldered those responsibilities every time we have stayed home when unwell, cancelled celebrations, or lined up to have a cotton swab stuck up our nostril. And the Australian government has protected us in return, through managing our borders, securing vaccines and increasing welfare through the JobKeeper and JobSeeker supplements.
Australians have much to be thankful for, however, that does not mean we are problem-free. As University of Melbourne academics Deborah Warr and Richard Williams wrote in 2015, ‘‘citizenship is not a magic ingredient that assures equality’’.
We have our own historic injustices, which will be at the forefront of our national conversation this week. For many Indigenous Australians, Australia Day is not a celebration of our unity as a nation but a cruel reminder of the vicissitudes brought about by the arrival of the First Fleet into Port Jackson on January 26, 1788.
The debate over whether Australia Day should be marked at all on January 26 grows more vociferous every year. This is not a new discussion. Anger over the celebration of Australia Day has been apparent since at least 1938, when Indigenous communities in Victoria and NSW held a Day of Mourning on January 26.
Speaking to The Age last week, Dean Parkin, the director of Indigenous recognition group From the Heart, said dissent will continue until Australia can ‘‘reimagine itself with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, heritage and cultures at the core of a much fuller national identity’’. The organisers of this year’s Invasion Day rally in the city have pledged to gather on Tuesday despite concerns the event could violate COVID-19 regulations.
Our nation faces many other challenges too – asylum seekers, climate change and inadequate welfare to name a few. But we talk about our problems and wrestle publicly with how to fix them. This is a consequence of our duty as citizens to vote and partake in political life, to improve the society in which we live.
On Australia Day, our newest citizens will promise to do just that, to do their bit to make this country a better place. Many of us are Australian by birth and have never had to swear allegiance to our nation. But the promise made by our new citizens this week, as well as our collective achievements last year, should serve as a reminder to us all of the duty we will always owe to advance Australia fair.