Smile, You’re In Australia!

Sherry Sufi argues Australia’s unique identity and way of life deserve to be celebrated rather than condemned, writes Melbourne small business owner and commerce/laws student Andrew Mathieson.

When Australia emphatically voted ‘No’ in the Voice referendum last year, the contention that Australia is a racist country built on stolen land seemed like it had done its dash, rejected once and for all by Australians. It certainly seemed clear we were a country that did not want to be divided by race. Enter the seemingly deaf, but ever-loud left elite, who despite, or perhaps out of spite for, the referendum outcome, are doubling down and pushing even more vehemently for a treaty and abrogation of our culture. Schools, academe, sections of the government, and the ABC are all continuing to spout a divisive and radical narrative. For this reason, Sherry Sufi’s latest book Australia on Trial: Accusations and Defence is essential spring reading.

Australia on Trial is not a book written for the academic or political classes. It does not engage in abstract intellectual debates about Australian history and culture, and Sufi states at the outset that his book is “neither a history textbook, nor should [it] be read like one”. There are already a multitude of history textbooks available, he reminds us, going on to tell us, in a refreshing change, that his intended audience is everyday Australians—those who may not have the time or inclination for heavy tomes but still want to engage with our culture.

The reason behind this is the seeming lack of accessible books that convey the important ideas of our past, and consequently everyday Australians appear to be losing touch with Australian history, and therefore our culture. Moreover, when we note how Australians are increasingly bombarded with almost entirely negative and often inaccurate ideas about Australia, it can become difficult to step back and discern the greatness in our country, let alone find the words to defend it.

Sufi’s book aims to fill this gap and reminds us of what it is about Australia that makes it a country and a culture worth fighting for. It articulates, in a clear and straightforward manner, why so many Australians voted No in last year’s referendum. Reading Australia on Trial will provide those who might find themselves lost for words when faced with inaccuracies about our culture and history, with the tools to stand up against these falsehoods, be it in the classroom, the workplace, or at the pub.

Stand up against the falsehoods.

“Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past”—a line from Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four—comes to mind as Sufi outlines what he is up against in his attempt to untwine myths from the reality of Australia’s history. He opens with what he calls the problem of ‘cultural amnesia’ and stresses the collective memory of a nation is essential to any understanding and renewal of its culture and self. Sufi says we are a people who have “completely abandoned any sense of connection with the past” and warns “Australia presently sits on a trajectory that is steering itself towards the eventual corrosion of its institutions, traditions, values, and way of life.”

The inability of many Australians to define Australia’s cultural identity, or to point to our defining cultural features beyond the superficial, is alarming and indicates the deeper elements of what hold us together as a nation are becoming less clear. While cultural traits such as our laid-back attitude and the fact we ‘love a yarn’ are positive, Sufi notes they do not deeply define us, and the fact these are what we reach for when pressed on our culture further illustrates our disconnect from our past.

While he begins by examining the superficial traits we have become used to associating with our cultural identity, Sufi ends with the deeper values he considers vital to our Australian way of life—equality, a free press, religious tolerance, a ‘fair go’, a duty of care, and a spirit of volunteerism—and imparts the stories upon which these values were founded, surmising that the Australian way of life is one “largely centred on individualism, modesty, scepticism, and personal space”. Reading the stories of how our ‘fair go’ attitude, our insistence on upholding and defending the value of free speech, and other distinctively Western values that came to define us was quite startling, so rarely are these acknowledged as positive and important parts of our Australian identity.

Indeed, when we forget the history of our identity, it becomes very easy to become self-loathing. While Sufi does not aim to engage in the ‘history’ or ‘culture’ wars, it nevertheless remains essential for him that people are informed of the true Australia, the one that we should be proud of. He notes, with some aplomb—and those who do wish to fight in a ‘culture war’ would be smart to take heed here—that it is impossible to have an intelligible debate on an issue such as racism unless we are able to operate from the same foundations. Moreover, how can we engage in abstract debates on where we should be going next if we do not understand the basics of Australian culture, and where we have come from, he asks. Answers to the question of where we are going must also be coherent, and Sufi writes that “without a shared goal for our country, inequality, discrimination and antagonism become commonplace, attitudes that undermine progress, promote guilt and the obliteration of traditions.” We have lost this shared goal and a division has emerged between left and right, whereby each side is increasingly unable to see the vision of the other.

Race is a weapon to divide people.

Race is identified as the weapon of choice to divide people. Sufi argues that on one side sits a right which views our past through rose-tinted glasses and on the other a left which considers it an abysmal horror. He does not, however, play into polemics, and insists reasoned debate and the ability to see both sides of arguments are the solution, stressing “balance is key”: “the left and right’s view can be reconciled and studied together in tandem. That is the only way forward”.

While this sounds ideal, one cannot help but observe that each side currently holds such disparate, almost incommensurable views to the other, that any blending of the two seems nigh on impossible. Sufi seems to acknowledge this when he writes that “a line has to be drawn in the sand so that our acknowledgement of past injustices doesn’t cause cultural paralysis.” The idea then, which Sufi’s book demonstrates, is to focus not on how to defend one’s side against the other, but to establish a base to which all Australians can relate, and from which we are then able both to argue our respective ideas and build a shared vision of Australia. Sufi identifies the push for multiculturalism—understood as a society of factions that are increasingly unable to interact with each other—as undermining this shared vision, and so a place to draw a line. While Australia has been and remains one of the most successful multi-ethnic societies, Sufi emphasises that to maintain this, any nation must retain “its own distinct identity, culture, and way of life”.

When considering questions of our history and culture, and how these might define our Australian way of life, it is important to know not only where the battlegrounds are, and what the right approach is, but also why those opposed to an Australian way of life as this is traditionally understood are presenting their views as unopposed truths. Australia on Trial does well in addressing this and gives a good introduction to the ways in which Australia’s identity is being attacked at its very core. Rather than falling for this black-and-white thinking, where the past is an Evil, the only way forward and indeed the only way to fight such radicals is to present a more nuanced understanding. Sufi writes that “our past is completely interwoven into our present and out future will ultimately be shaped by both the past and the present”.

Sufi successfully argues against the claim that Australia is a structurally racist country founded on stolen land. His intuitive, commonsense rebuttals may prove invaluable in such divisive times. Readers will also find an accurate and admirable sketch of a common understanding of our culture and a vision of how we might reimagine our Australian heritage.

Overall, Australia on Trial enables everyday Australians to come to an informed decision about the Australia they live in, which is the first step in engaging with the culture and steering it in the direction that one sees fit. The book ends by urging us to “continue to celebrate Australia’s unique identity, and together advance towards an enriching, unified and free future that embodies the best aspects of the Australian way of life”.

Andrew Mathieson is a laws/commerce student and the owner of a small business in Melbourne. In early 2024 he interned as a research assistant at the IPA.