A return to Australian values?

As the Liberal Party yet again changes its leader, a new slogan is emerging from the party ranks.  Ex-prime minister, Tony Abbott was on the ABC’s 7:30 Report espousing his views on the leadership change and what the party needs to do to recover from devastating poll numbers.  He argued for a need to ‘return to Australian values’.  In respect to immigration and multiculturalism. He proposed:

“We need to put far more emphasis on our unity and not nearly as much on our diversity.”

And he attempted to clarify what he meant by Australian values:

“Our character is essentially Anglo-Celtic and Judeo-Christian.  That is what has made this country attractive to migrants and we should keep it that way.”

A few days later the ABC’s Four Corners also covered the leadership change.  Multiple Liberals were interviewed and there was repeated mention of both Australian values and Anglo-Celtic and Judeo-Christian character.

Could we be seeing a new Liberal immigration policy or is this more of a jingoistic appeal for votes from the far right?

Concern over high immigration levels has been growing since the number of immigrants “jumped” from around 100,000 per year to above 200,000 in the mid-2000s.   During the Covid-19 pandemic, the numbers dropped to zero and, following the opening up, there was a ‘catch up” rush that led to a peak of 550,000 new immigrants in 2023-24.

Thereafter there has been a decline in 2024-25 to 300,000.  Current Treasury projections are for further decline in numbers to around 250,000.  The Labor government is tightening criteria for certain categories of immigration.  One that is particularly targeted is education which has been the avenue for a massive increase in temporary visas.

The last two decades, when this significant increase in immigration occurred, included periods of both Coalition and Labor government.  This has also been a period of major growth in several employment sectors where there is a distinct shortage of Australians to meet the rapidly growing demand.  These sectors are education, health, aged care and child care.   Hence, an increase in demand for immigrants existed.

However, it has been argued that immigration policy was full of “loop holes” that have meant actual needs are not being fully met.  Looking back to the tumultuous political period where leadership changes came thick and fast, it might also be argued that both Coalition and Labor governments of the time “dropped the ball”  on developing a sustainable immigration program that more effectively met actual labour shortages.

Hence it is understandable that there is a growing expectation within the Australian society that immigration policy needs review to ensure it is fit for purpose.

Unfortunately, given the current strife within the Coalition parties (Liberal and National) because of the threat of a resurgent One Nation, it is a challenging environment for a rational debate about immigration. Hence, I expect we will hear much more about Australian values in the coming year.

Australian Values

I have pondered this question of Australian values for some time.  I have sought to understand the influences on these values and the extent of change over time of these values due to these influences.

Firstly, can we reasonably expect there is a set of commonly understood values that can be defined as Australian values? The manner in which Coalition identities describe these values is vague but it does imply we all know what these values are.  This can be challenged.  Even within one family there can be a wide set of views about what societal values are important.  I can attest to this.

I have particular concern that the Coalition is seeking to give these values a particular ethno-religious foundation.  In subsequent days there has been a suggestion of specific nation and region exclusions of a Trumpian nature.  Is this going to be a return to a variant of the White Australia policy?  Surely not.

At a logic level what worries me most about the Coalition utterances on immigration to date is the implicit expectation that Australian values are in some way immutable.  A quick view of Australian history tells us that the nation’s values have changed significantly over time.  It is time for a quick review of our history on what we stand for.

Values through History

Firstly there is the arrival of the First Fleet in Sydney Cove.  What greater change in values can be imagined than that between indigenous Australians and those encompassed in the establishment of a penal settlement of the British Empire?

Moving forward, it can be said that Sydney, as penal colonies go, was not particularly punitive.  The early governors from Phillip on, utilised convicts for far more than the breaking of rocks.  This went as far as having convicts supervise the work of other convicts and even the appointment of convict police and ultimately led to facilitating the path of convicts to equality with free settlers including the right to vote.

The historian John Hirst gives an excellent description of this early democratisation process in a piece titled, “How did a penal colony change peacefully”  The reasons this happened ranged from a changing British perspective on colonies post the American War of Independence and the more basic manpower shortage.  Whatever the reasons, the early governors created an environment that was less than repressive and established a very early expectation for equality of rights and democratic expression. It also created an environment where aspiration was valued and rewarded.

Then came the squatters, the gold rushes and the selection period, all of which added specific layers to the Australian character up until the country entered the 20th Century.  This was a period of tremendous growth and gave Australia a strong agricultural base.  It was a period of great rural influence over the ever evolving Australian ethos.  Patterson, Lawson, Stretton and many others recorded this ethos.

It was also a period of high immigration and (are we surprised) debate about who should be allowed to come to Australia.  Catholics, in general and specifically the Irish were not favoured by some including Henry Parkes as not meeting what was then British values.

Then for most of the first half of the 20th Century Australian society went into a shell. The World War I digger experiences added to our cultural portfolio but immigration dropped to very low levels.  The Great Depression was, arguably, the greatest influence on Australian values up until the late 1940s.

Of course the post-WWII period – the Golden Age and beyond has been characterised by growth and change – sometimes slow and steady and sometimes explosive – but always growth.  Australians have barely had time to reflect on how the changes have influenced us.  In 1948 we were just 7.7 million and we were predominantly Anglo-Celtic and practising Christians.  Now we are sailing past 26 million and we have a wide variety of ethnic origins coupled with a great deal of inter-marriage over several generations and a declining adherence to most mainstream religions.

What do these changes in growth and ethnic composition make us?  I would suggest not Anglo-Celtic and Judeo-Christian.  Certainly this classification is part of the mix but I am certain this part is well less than half.

Values in Flux

In conclusion, it is clear our values are in a state of flux and there are many variables influencing this state.  It is wrong and very likely highly divisive to suggest that our immediate post war society has a predominant right over what we might evolve to be sometime in the future.

Furthermore, whatever we might think about what we should be, the forces that are in play are really beyond the kind of “predestination” implied by Coalition utterances to date.  All the various influences that are in play in our society today will contribute in a logical and reasonable way to what we might be in the future.  So, my appeal to the Coalition is to just let it be.

Furthermore, my suggestion to the Coalition is to develop an immigration policy that is in harmony with our economic and social needs at this point in time.  The setting of an impossible social barrier to becoming an Australian won’t cut it.