And coming to a fuller understanding of the past is the best ground for mature confidence about the future. Reflecting on them restores a sense of proportion. I want to talk about lively traditions and values which bind us together as a people. That too needs to be shown for what it is.īut my task today is not simply one of demolition. As the debate has become grossly politicised, it’s been accompanied by a negative, simplistic rewriting of history. Now is the time to reply: to puncture that hot air balloon. But the Keating Government is attempting to redefine national identity in a crudely self-serving way.Īnd in doing so, the Keating Government is living proof of the Orwellian dictum that those who seek to control the future first try to control the past by distorting it for their own particular narrow purpose. National identity used to be a subject on which there was a broad measure of agreement between the major parties. Today I want to talk about our national identity and the shared values and history that have shaped it. A Reflection on the National Identity Debate This is the text of John Howard’s Headland speech on National Identity, one of a series given by the Leader of the Opposition during 1995.
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