An essential component of any new Republic is the issue of reconciliation. For many minimalists, and constitutional monarchists, the legitimacy for Australian government lies with the English Constitution which the colonists enacted through self-government in the 1850's. Since the Aboriginal experience of Australia has been outside this tradition, Aboriginal belief systems have been derided and discriminated against by government and society.

This all encompassing view of Australian Englishness has been eroded by two hundred years of cultural and social growth. To the point that the land, and the spiritual connection we all have with it, has become central to any modern Australian narrative. Aboriginal society has a far richer dialogue with the land than modern Australians, but this does not deny the fact, that the true unifying force in this country, is the spiritual bond for the land, and consequently each other that we share.

Continental History

Several years ago, a mate of mine, who is in the RAAF, was in Boston doing a course. He had to spend some time in Washington DC so we got the chance to meet up and have dinner with him. He brought two of his friends along as well. They were JAGs - US Navy lawyers. So me, my wife, my mate, and his two friends were chatting away about Australia, America and other stuff over a good meal. During the conversation the age of Australia popped up.

"Australia is only two hundred years old right?"

To which I replied, "Nah, we are sixty thousand years old. Just the last two hundred years of it have been European."

My mate sitting next to me said, "Yeh." in agreement. I was surprised at his affirmation, he is a good twenty years older than me and comes from one of the more traditional institutions in Australia. The truth is though, many Australians don't see their history as being limited to white settlement. There is the common consensus that Australian national history, is Australia's continental history - and that very much includes Aboriginal history and lore as the starting point for Australia.

The legitimacy for this history comes directly from the land itself. This is very Australian notion. The Aboriginal people have a great spiritual connection to the land, and that spirituality in the land has permeated through into modern Australian culture. The land looms big in nearly every Australian narrative.

As an example, recently I followed the link in avocadia's profile to his photo gallery where he had pictures of Cronulla beach. It made me incredibly homesick. Not because I missed the feeling of the being at the beach, nor because I wanted to be in Sydney. I just flat out yearned for the sand, the surf and the sky. It was the land that was drawing me.

Legitimacy For Government

A while back (Sept 2002) on Kuro5hin I wrote ;

One thing Indigenous Australians, Anglo-Australians, Modern-Australians and New-Australians all see and share as an anchor in the Australian cultural life are the myths surrounding the Australian landscape and the cultural ascendancy in the Australian experience from exposure to the Australian landscape. The legitimacy for government should be placed in the land, rather than an individual or a people. In essence Australians would share their consent for sociality and polity through the land.

And soon after in Dec 2002 I wrote ;

Legitimacy for the Australian Government lies in the land and the people.

While seeing the legitimacy for government being embedded in the land and the people, government could use the static nature of the land to install a static government that bypasses the people and claims its own despotic legitimacy from the land. I am not certain any longer that requiring the land as a source of legitimacy is good for government. There is no doubt that the land is a source of legitimacy for the Australian culture and the society, but not for government. It could be too easily perverted for the purpose of tyrannic government.

This limits a constitutional mention of where Australian draws it cultural and social strength from to the "preamble". An area which proved very divisive during the republic referendum when John Howard co-opted the process. Mark McKenna writes in his book, "The Country. A Reconciled Republic." that Aboriginal people will see no legitimacy in any federal constitution unless it mentions explicit rights and protections of minorities, as well as recognition that the Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders were the original custodians of the land.

This preamble may not be necessary, if Australia is to become a transcendent nation then we have to be a diverse people who share a common core of values and beliefs. That common core is the land. The complete tragedy of Australian Government and the current Culture Wars is that we have been trying to make the Aboriginal people like us. Like white anglo-saxons. The truth is, we are really them. We have the same spiritual and cultural connection to this great continent.

Modern Australian culture may not have the same richness of language, art, or spirituality to convey as the Aboriginal culture has, but the spiritual connection is undeniable.

This connection also makes for a meta-people. The Australian Diaspora maintains the same connection to the land, as those that live in Australia. The diaspora should not be the forgotten people, culturally, socially or politically. When the spiritual connection to the land becomes what defines "Australianness" then immigration laws should recognize that connection in when naturalizing people and change the language to define an individuals love for the land and the people, rather than a queen or government.

The Dreaming Republic

What should be the starting point for a reconciled republic - The Dreaming Republic?

• Australian history is Australian continental history.
• Modern Australian history begins with Aboriginal history.
• The strength of Australian culture and society is drawn from our spiritual connection to the land.
• We are bound by our shared and inextricable spiritual connection to the land.
• Our strength is in our diversity, and our society and culture is greater than the sum of its parts.
• To discriminate against one individual is to discriminate against us all.
• To discriminate against one minority is to discriminate against us all.
• The legitimacy for government remains with the people.
• Our political freedom and minority rights are protected through a constitutional enumeration of rights.
• Complete and perfect equality under the law.
• The communal aspirational force to transcend nationalist politics.
• The recognition and understanding that a society cannot succeed to its full potential unless individuals have maximum liberty.
• Genuine universal suffrage. All under the jurisdiction of the government get to vote.
• No Australian must be without a direct representative in parliament. This includes the diaspora, which will entail electoral districts outside of the Australian continent.
• Increased public participation in politics to avoid alienation of the public from the political process and ensure public ownership of the political process.

The truth that we all share a spiritual bond with the land means - indigenous Australians, Anglo Australians, new Australians and modern Australians - are more alike and at peace with Australia's 60,000 year modern history, than in the short sighted view of Australia being a European nation founded by, and dependent upon, British and Anglo customs. The Anglo view is too small to carry us forward, and not sufficiently inclusive to allow Australia to transcend the claustrophobia of the nation-state.

The source of inspiration for the Australian people, the culture, the society and the polity is the land.

cam