What Are the Core Values of Australia?
What Are the 6 Australian Values?
What are Australia’s Core Values?
What are Australian Rights?
Or to put it another way:
What are Australia’s Values and Beliefs?
Well, first: There’s no such thing as the “Six Australian Values” or the “Core Values of Australia”, or any beliefs that any two Australians will ever totally agree on.
One of the core values is that you have a right to decide whether you agree on what other people insist are core values.
The Immigration Department might not agree that this is a right you own, especially if you’re trying to enter the country, whether for a short or a long time. Or are a Muslim.
There are about 25 Million of us, multiplied by the number of values individual people might have. Then those can be divided by the number of values that people agree on and multiplied by the square root of the values that people disagree on; so, you do the maths. Because no-one else can.
We can promise that the number you calculate will not be 6.
Human Rights in Australia
Australians don’t really have “rights“.
We don’t have a Bill of Rights, or a Declaration of Rights. Politicians don’t like them.
There is nothing specifically about rights in the Australian Constitution. All we have is a vague and arguable implication, not that the Constitution protects, or mandates, free political speech but that the government may not make laws that curtail political communication between citizens who have been granted the right to vote. This finding by the HIgh Court could be wiped out in a moment by a different set of Judges.
Any other rights that we think we might have is in laws and treaties and these can be lost in a moment by a change in law by the ruling parties.
Our system presumes a connection through English history to the major documents like the hundreds of years old Magna Carta and Habeas Corpus. And we have seen in this century the right to habeas corpus attacked by executive fiat.
We have signed the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and we are bound to uphold it. But Australian governments can and do modify the terms to suit the political needs of the day.
People say “we have the right to vote,” but we don’t.
Voting is not a Right. Voting is compulsory and what is compulsory is not a right. It is a requirement and failure to vote is a punishable offence.
Most of those things they say are “rights” are not rights at all but privileges and privileges can be taken away without notice [see Coronavirus Pandemic, 2020]
So we don’t have anything stable and unbreakable on which we can rest the idea that we have rights.
Then again, there are plenty of laws that tell us what we can’t do. That leaves a bit of room for what we can do.
As the scientists say, “What is not forbidden is compulsory.”
DISCLAMER/ EXPLAINER:
Just so you understand: Oz is the best bloody country in the world, okay? And why would you want to live anywhere else? It’s always in the top five for quality of life and everything else. BUT IT’S NOT PERFECT. Australian politicians are massive fibbers and gaslighters who try to steal our values as if they own them. They talk about Australian values but they only pretend to hold them. So there’s still plenty of room for improvement.
And while Sir Roger calls them out on this he’s also hugely grateful for the incredible accident of being born here in Godzone.
All the Best Australian Values
So here are the top few values that are frequently asserted, usually by politicians, god-botherers and white supremacists (but we repeat ourselves) .
Respect for the Equal Worth, Dignity and Freedom of the individual
If only . . . Equal worth does not include the car you drive, where you live, the school you went to (or go to), the job you do, the salary you earn, the wife-price/bank account of your partner, the size of your tits or dick.
Dignity does not include the way your manager speaks to you.
And you don’t actually have freedom.
Australians are more regulated and micro-managed than ever in their history since the First Fleet
Freedom of Speech
Politicians insist you have freedom of speech, but that’s just to draw you out before slapping a cease and desist on you if you say something they don’t like.
Free speech is nowhere to be found in our laws or the Constitution.
There’s only what the High Court calls an “implied right” to discuss political issues. Just political issues.
So the next time a clever barrister stands before a more conservative, “black-letter” Bench we could be fucked.
Freedom of Association
Except during a COVID pandemic.
Freedom of Religion (including the freedom not to follow a particular religion)
Freedom of religion is like freedom to eat dog shit. Freedom of religion also includes the right to slag off everyone else’s beliefs (or lack of them). Freedom of religion also carries the right to stuff your own religious beliefs down the throats of people who don’t agree with you. If you’re clever enough and do it often enough the Australian Rugby Union might reward you with a few million dollars.
If you’re the Prime MInister and a Hillsong fanboy you might thrust it down the throats of the entire Australian population.
If you’re a catholic priest you might thrust a dick down your own throat while telling the child that if they say anything they’ll go to hell. .
Secular Government
Australia’s is a secular government, except that its entire political history is concreted onto the Anglican sect of Christianity. (Its Head of State, our ultimate boss, holds her position – long to reign over us – by virtue of her title, not as Queen but as Defender of the Faith – that is, the Church of England faith) So we are a secular democracy except for the fact we are all Anglican. Half the parliament is of course Catholic and do their best to subvert the secularity of the government and introduce laws the Inquisition would be happy with.
The Federal Parliament itself is not secular. Each day begins with clearly christian and totally Anglican prayers:
Almighty God, we humbly beseech Thee to vouch safe Thy blessing upon this Parliament. Direct and prosper our deliberations to the advancement of Thy glory, and the true welfare of the people of Australia.
Our Father, which art in Heaven: Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil: For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
But hey! we’re still a “secular” country where most of us aren’t religious at all. .
Support for Parliamentary Democracy
Perhaps slightly less than half of Australians support democracy at all, The majority of people under 30 do not. (After all, what could possibly go wrong if we lived under an authoritarian regime or a theocracy?)
The rest are in order: politicians; ultra-rich capitalists; white supremacists; catholics; anarchists, some immigrants; terrorists, and marxists.
Most immigrants, though, strongly support parliamentary democracy because they have escaped the horrors of authoritarian or theocratic regimes, so they know first-hand what is at stake.
Equality Under the Law
Everyone is equal under the law but some, as Orwell wrote, “are more equal than others”.
If you are a rich person who can afford a good, expensive, experienced lawyer you have a fair chance of success in court against good, expensive, experienced adversaries. However, if you are struggling to make ends meet you will also be struggling to represent yourself and you will still be facing the good, expensive, experienced lawyers of the government or the corporation and you will probably lose.
Men are claimed to be less equal than women in family courts. The poor are less equal than the rich. The ugly, the stupid and the mentally impaired are less equal than the bright and beautiful and the healthy.
State governments provide legal advice to the poverty-stricken. Of a sort and to an extent. This aid may not be at the level you need when you’re up against 100 shiny-suited government smartarses.
Commitment to the Rule of Law
They say people should obey the law. And we do. More or less. Most of the time. When it suits us. But we have this concept of good and bad laws and people go on the streets if they think a law is bad. There are a lot of bad laws. Like the terrorism law that was written by politicians for politicians to win an Election. Which they didn’t.
But we obey the laws if we think there’s probably a CCTV camera in the vicinity. Otherwise, especially if we’re pisssed, we might give it a go. Like exceeding the speed limit.
But there’s more and you should read these links (below) BECAUSE what you might not know is that when you render a service or a “resource” — a packet of nails, say, or a bottle of Ammonia or a SIM card — which may conceivably assist a person in a terrorist act, the Terrorism Law clearly requires you to satisfy yourself that they are not a member of a terrorist organisation. And the evidentiary burden that you took sufficient steps to satisfy yourself of this . . . well, it probably rests with you.
(You could always ask them if they’re a terrorist. How would that work out do you think?)
https://valuesaustralia.com/keelty-must-go-at-last/
https://valuesaustralia.com/rights-of-man/
https://valuesaustralia.com/black-breath-of-the-nazgul/
Equality of Men and Women
Well there isn’t. But we’re working on it and we hope that men will achieve equality with women as soon as possible. Through social media men are receiving training on empathy, anger management, generosity and mental focus. And hygiene. They are learning, for example, that farting under the Doona is not actually hilarious (and calling it a ‘Dutch Oven’ doesn’t help) and helping with the housework does not make you a poofter,(although there’s nothing wrong with that). Also, they are being taught to FUCKING LISTEN!!.
Equality of Opportunity
regardless of Race, Religion, Gender, Sexual orientation, Age, Disability, or national or ethnic Origin;
This is an aspiration that may go as far back to 1788 and we’re hoping that work might begin sometime in this century.
One of the barriers is that a rich and doting parent is always going to give first dibs to his son when it comes to who gets the newspaper or the TV station, no matter how worthy or qualified some black catholic LGBTIQx Fijian might be.
A Spirit of Egalitarianism
that embraces mutual respect, tolerance, fair play, compassion for those in need and pursuit of the public good
It’s a nice idea, right? But after all, Australia was an English colony complete with a metre-thick, stone-cold class system. so there’s a lot to undo, yeah? Since actions and influence from above always determine the real outcomes on the factory floor, this is a really hard one.
Australia is so egalitarian that it permitted lots of Syrians to come here. Um. As long as they were, you know, Christians.
Only when Spud the Potato Head, Minister for Immolation and SiliconChips, hands in the towel and someone with actual tolerance, a sense of fair play, an ability to feel respect, and especially compassion, will anything begin to change. Only then will we see desperate people escaping horrors – people in real need – being treated with compassion instead of watching them set fire to themselves in despair.
Oh, and by the way . . .
The Department of Humiliation and Fish’n’chips requires those coming to GodZone, even for the shortest time, to agree that not only are we the best place on earth and with the best values ever but also to agree that English is the only real language and that they won’t speak their gibberish anywhere around decent monolingual Australians.
This is covered in the “Statement of Aussie Values” where incoming candidates are required to assure us that they understand that (and we quote):
‘the English language is the national language’ of Australia
Or is it?
Well, no, it is not. Because there isn’t one. “English is commonly assumed to be Australia’s official language, but that is incorrect. The Constitution prescribes no official language.”
Mind you, almost everyone does speak English and for about 80% of Australians it’s the only language they know or use. The other 20% speak both English and numerous other tongues. Most people in the world speak several languages. For example most Chinese speak Mandarin, Cantonese, their local dialect and at least one or two more, often including English. Why should we speak anything else but English, after all? Everyone else in the world does so we don’t need to. Yep. We’re lazy like that. Why wouldn’t you be arrogant if you lived in Australia?
BUT if you want to learn how to talk English like a true-blue Aussie, you can go here, even including how to proas pornon prong perno say the words properly.