Patriotism has become a dirty word. Hanson shouldn’t own love for our country

July 1, 2026 — 5:00am

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When was the last time you felt proud to be an Australian? Socceroos and sporting triumphs aside, do you get a queasy feeling in the pit of your stomach when asked about national pride, almost as though love for your country is something to be ashamed of?

For me, the P word, patriotism, conjures up images of far-right thugs with Southern Cross tatts marching on parliament or rioting at Cronulla. I don’t want to be associated with that, so I mustn’t be very patriotic. All of this happens on an instinctive level without much input from my rational brain. At some point, I’ve imbibed the idea that national pride is bad without ever giving the assumptions underpinning this much thought.

The rise of One Nation and the populist right has, however, got me thinking about the virtues of patriotism. All the teeth-gnashing over whatever “monoculture” means and Angus Taylor’s dithering incoherence in response to it only plays into Pauline Hanson’s hands.

We’re spending all this time talking about One Nation and its views on multiculturalism. Why are we leaving it to Hanson to determine the parameters of our conversation about Australia’s national identity?

There is so much to be proud of about modern Australia. Our institutions aren’t perfect, but there are few countries in the world that could claim to be safer, more prosperous and better functioning than Australia. We have a healthy democracy,........

© The Age