YOU would think that last year’s Voice referendum which overwhelmingly rejected dividing the country by race would have forced our elites to rethink how they see Australia.

But, no, many of the usual suspects – the loud minority on corporate boards, in various levels of government and so forth – are at it again, this time trying to kill our traditional Australia Day.

Why is it they don’t grasp what most others do – that January 26 celebrates modern Australia - a country in which we all share the benefits of today’s health care, education and social support.

Maybe those who choose to live back of Bourke a little less than others.   

Mind you, indigenous activists don’t seem to read the room any better.

If they had opted for a legislated Voice instead of trying to change the constitution they would have won.

Most Australians would have accepted an advisory body subject to democratic control. Obviously one that would have led to a handful of unelected judges running the country was a step too far.

But back to Australia Day.              

Expressing pride in where this country is at doesn’t preclude us from marking the cultures that came before, something we now do multiple times each year.

According to the results of a poll conducted by the Institute of Public Affairs and released recently the vast majority of Australians are happy with the January 26 celebration, and are proud of their nation.     

That’s not the message you get watching ABC and SBS TV and some of the other left-leaning media outlets heavily staffed by people who hate our country.

Seemingly, for them the Voice argy-bargy and culture war must go on.

The IPA poll found that two-thirds agreed the current date should be kept.

An even greater number, 87 percent, said they were proud to be Australian, while 69 percent said that our history was something to be proud of as well.   

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AROUND Greater Hamilton the audiences at our national day functions are mostly senior citizens, many with grandchildren in tow. 

That’s partly because the day comes at the end of weeks of holiday and most often on a workday. 

There’s usually a well-meaning special guest – not infrequently spouting jingoistic drivel about how, per capita, we top the world in sport, science, tolerance or whatever else provides a warm fuzzy for his/her day.

The tradition of celebrating Australia Day on January 26 is a recent one. It only started in 1935 and very few took the milestone seriously until 1994 when it became a public holiday. 

If I remember my Aussie history correctly, Australians are the only people on earth who successfully formed and retain a single nation on a full continent, without wholesale spilling of blood.

Whatever violence has marred our progress – by some first settlers against indigenous tribes, by miners against Chinese workers and, more recently, by a few Australians against successive waves of immigrants – has nearly always been isolated, contained and condemned.

This proven tolerance in a nation of now diverse peoples is what we need to highlight and nurture on Australia Day. Not maudlin mush about the success of Aussie sportsmen, actors and other celebrities who made it big overseas.

We live in one of the most blessed countries on earth. Life expectancy today for males at 81 years and women 85 testifies to that.

Unlike most nations, what little tension there is in this country, isn’t so much between haves and have-nots, but haves and have yachts. And even that gap is closing annually.

Standing firm on keeping January 26 as the day we celebrate modern Australia (yes, today’s world), doesn’t mean there aren’t ways we could better highlight what came before.

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TRIGGER WARNING

The following could increase blood pressure.

WHAT could be dumber for a nation striving for cohesion than flying competing flags?  

We should insist on just one and make a dent in racial division.

Our current flag is outdated and a remnant of history.

The first day of January,1901, found the people of Melbourne living in the temporary capital of a newborn Commonwealth of Australia.

  Flags and banners everywhere marked the occasion. The words ‘Federated Australia’ ran across the full front of Parliament House in big gold letters, with ‘One Flag, One Hope, One Destiny’ in smaller gold and red.

The pennant Australians then flew was the Union Jack, more widely recognised as the British flag.

 A competition was announced and more than 30,000 entries were received. These were hung in the Exhibition Building, opening for public viewing on September 3, 1901.

The winning design was flown from the pinnacle of the building’s dome the same day.

First prize was split between five people with the same idea. Each had included the Union Jack – showing the connection to the Empire in the same format as flags of other British colonies – as well as a symbol of the Commonwealth or Federation, the multi-pointed single star (each point representing a state); and something seen as distinctively Australian, showing the country’s place in the world: the stars of the Southern Cross constellation.

 The Jack and stars on red ground was consequently registered for general use, with blue background for official use.

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THE determination to forge “one flag, one nation” held for most of the last century until indigenous agitation brought about reluctant acceptance of a separate pennant.

Flying two, sometimes three flags, unlike anywhere else in the world – and usually at equal prominence – must have visitors shaking their heads.

We could take a massive step forward to overcoming present and future racial tensions if we replaced the current national flag with one including aboriginal history.

 We all know from home life that it takes two to make harmony. Our wider society is no different. Compromise is needed in the public arena as well. 

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Today most shires in the Western District (shamefully) fly indigenous flag/flags at the same height thus given equal status as the national pennant – sad testimony that when it came to a choice between expediency and principle, our councillors are found wanting. 

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 FOR the sake of our children we need policies that move towards integration, not separation.  

It’s clear that Australians don’t look kindly to people wanting to interfere with their traditional flag, Polls regularly prove that.

If we explained, however, that replacing the Union Jack with aboriginal colours was part of a healing process, I’m sure most Australians would readily accept the change.  

 A flag acceptable to all is the best way to teach our children that we share a common bond. The Union Jack in one corner is outdated and now irrelevant.

 Some will argue that the current flag correctly represents post-settlement Australia, and that because our servicemen carried it into battle the colours are sacred.

That’s emotion talking rather than reason. Our diggers fought and died under a range of flags – red ensign, blue ensign, British navy and air force, regimental flags and even the UN colours.

 Australian sacrifice, in truth, was for country and way of life, not colours on a piece of cloth.

Adding indigenous colours to our national flag would also justly settle one ongoing grievance.

Flying but one flag would denote we’re one people, in one nation – as our forefathers intended – and ensure harmony.

We started federation last century with the slogan “one flag, one hope, one destiny. We should never have strayed from that.