Jonathan Shack

Australia Day always prompts debate on the nature of the country, our flag and our form (if not so much our system) of government. Even though I'm a constitutional monarchist and one who believes that our system, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, may be the worst except for all the rest, I fully understand that there are justifiable emotional reasons both for change and for retention. Whilst no overwhelming case has been made to convince me of the argument for a republic I have for many years been a fan of "if it's not broken don't fix it. " Recently however I have come to the understanding that that cliche is just an argument for the status quo which may very likely be indiscriminate; not all change is good, neither is it all bad but advancement and progression require it. This is not an argument for a republic just an openness to continue to have the debate. It amuses me that the media beat-up the case for a change to the flag at the same time it is more and more prevalent and so obviously so. The fears of jingoism and the hijacking of patriotism are I think lessened by the prevalence of the flag in all its forms. Whilst we may not treat our flag with the reverence of the Americans it is seen more and more and this precludes the impact of its use by narrow interest groups. Whilst patriotism has been called the last refuge of a fool (an individual) when taken up by the many it clearly enhances national pride, a sense of identity and yes, patriotism. However being proud of Australia is not by definition a criticism of other nations. As we can only truly love others if we love ourselves so it is with nations and a quiet sense of self worth is much more powerful than over weening self promotion. Again I am not afraid of the debates on this topic and would hope to keep emotion out of the arguments if not the position one holds. I am prompted to continue-on with this blog on freedom-of-speech but will keep those thoughts for another time. Best regards, Jonathan.