A poll of 1000 Australians commissioned by the Institute of Public Affairs released this week found 91 per cent of Australians are proud of their country. Yet you wouldn't know that's how Australians think given the way the new Australian of the Year speaks.
David Morrison, the former head of the army, characterised Australia along the lines of the now all-too-familiar trope, saying, "We hold people back in this country for the most peculiar of reasons - their gender or the god they believe in or the colour of their skin or sexual orientation." It was a theme he has reinforced at every opportunity.
Yes, we have our challenges, but for the 2016 Australian of the Year to make as his central message the claim we're a country plagued by sexism, bigotry, and racism makes Morrison a parody. Most Australians have a better appreciation than David Morrison of how fortunate they are to live in this country.
The Australian Republican Movement says we should change because "we live in Asia, an area of the world that has dispensed with colonialism". That's true. Many Asian countries have replaced colonialism with corruption, cronyism and one-party rule. Whatever the reasons we should be a republic, the attempt to make Australia more like Asia is not one of them.
The state premiers are making it hard for those of us who think federalism is important and who believe state governments should have more power, not less.
Up until this week the sole contribution the premiers had made to the recent public debate was to argue for higher taxes. Now they want a republic.
Under John Howard and Peter Costello, the Liberal Party could be relied upon to be a bulwark against foolishness. Whether that's still true is an open question. On Wednesday this newspaper's editorial noted perceptively that "gay marriage, Indigenous recognition and the republic will involve a fight for the Liberal soul". That's true. The Liberals seem no less obsessed with these issues than the Labor Party.
If the Liberals had a comprehensive reform agenda for lowering taxes, reducing government spending, restoring freedom of speech as Tony Abbott promised he'd do, and implementing a flexible industrial relations system, then maybe the Liberals could indulge themselves the luxury of debating matters which are a long way from the Liberals' core mission.
Talking endlessly about the republic is easy. Cutting the size of government is hard. At the moment the Liberals are taking the easy way out.
