In search of Australian values

In 1990, amid one of Britain's periodic handwringings over questions of national loyalty and identity, a Tory grandee proposed a test that looked deceptively simple.

Lord Norman Tebbit suggested asking Britons of sub-continental and Caribbean origin who they barracked for when their old country was playing Test cricket against England.

The idea was never adopted, but it provoked a lot of debate. If nothing else, it perhaps led to a wider realisation of the complexities of identity.

Malcolm Turnbull, in all his talk about putting Australian values at the heart of qualifying for Australian citizenship, wisely didn't mention the Tebbit test.

It's a fair bet that most Australian citizens of Indian, Pakistani or Sri Lankan heritage would - just like their British counterparts - find their old loyalties impossible to resist.

But if you ignore such crude measures to identify Australian values, what else is there?

Turnbull was as clear as mud.

The prime minister said Australians were defined by a commitment to a common set of political values - freedom, gender equality, mutual respect, the rule of law, democracy, a fair go.

Of course there's nothing peculiar to Australia in all this. All countries in the western democratic tradition hold essentially the same values.

Turnbull acknowledged this, saying the values were shared with many other democracies, before adding "but they are in and of themselves unique".

Whatever that means.

He went on to say "There is something uniquely Australian about them."

Who knows what the New Zealanders, Canadians etc think about this.

Turnbull was right to put these values at the core of citizenship - but weren't they already?

After all, he reckons Australia already has the most successful multicultural society in the world.

That puts his actual changes to the citizenship process in perspective.

The English test is reasonable, provided decent English lessons are readily available to everyone who needs them. Extending the qualifying time from one to four years is debatable.

Overall, however, what Turnbull is proposing is little more than fine tuning.

There's nothing wrong with that.

The trouble is that Turnbull, like just about every national leader since the pharaohs built pyramids, can't resist the big splash, however modest the measure.

Meanwhile we're no closer to knowing what, if anything, is uniquely special about being Australian.

After all, most Australians are Australian because they were lucky enough to win the genetic lottery by being born here and don't have to prove anything to anyone.