Chance to celebrate national character - Jenny Ware MP
JENNY WARE MP
FEDERAL MP for Hughes shares her thoughts on Australia Day.
“Welcome to 2023. I have recently returned to work having enjoyed a family holiday away, together with time spent with friends.
“This week we celebrate Australia Day. It was on January 26, 1788 that Captain Arthur Phillip, of the Royal Navy, founded a penal settlement on the shores of Sydney Harbour. Those first Europeans numbered J 030 people, 736 of them convicts. The Commonwealth of Australia came into being on January I, 1901, just 122years ago.
“That is just part of our rich story of nationhood. Prior to European settlement, the land we know as Australia had been settled by indigenous Australians for approximately 65,000 years.
“So while contemporary Australia may be one of the younger nations of the world, our indigenous heritage means it is the oldest continuing civilisation. Australia Day provides the opportunity for us to reflect upon and celebrate the Australian achievement - to 'rejoice for we are one and free'.
“We celebrate and rejoice our national character and unique identity formed through and, often in spite of, our complex history.
“We celebrate this national day through 'barbies', beach cricket. bushwalks, bodysurfing and time ,with loved ones. We rejoice in our democratic traditions, our free institutions, our egalitarian, often irreverent spirit, our larrikinism, our inclusive lifestyle, our resilience - even when facing dire adversity, our 'mateship', our volunteerism and our laconic sense of humour, often in the face of overwhelming disaster - all of which are defining features of our national character.
“We rejoice that contemporary Australia, since the Second World War, has been so enriched by immigration from every corner of the world, that Australia is one of the world's most successful multicultural nations.
“It will be my great pleasure to be part of the citizenship ceremonies where our newest Australians take their pledge to their new homeland.
“Australia's greatest strength is our diversity. We prosper by embracing this diversity and rejoicing in the knowledge that always, those things that unite Australians are far greater than those that divide. That we all have a responsibility to our country and to each other.
“We all share a stake in our future. We all have something worth celebrating. We all have contributions to make to our country that are part of our own journey as well as the on-going journey of our great nation.
“I am immensely proud to be Australian and to have been given the opportunity to serve and represent my fellow Australians. This Australia Day, let us rejoice.”
Published by The Leader Newspaper on 25 January 2023.