My piece for Fairfax:
Well boys and girls, it’s January in Australia, and we all know what that means: family holidays, sizzling barbecues and blatant racism. Hooray! What would Australia Day season be without our political leaders wheeling out some sweet nationalism infused with xenophobia?
Why, that would simply be forgetting the reason for the season.
Anti-Immigration Minister Peter Dutton got into the spirit of things this week as he called for a revamp of the citizenship test that prospective Australians have to undertake. “We need to have a look at the way we welcome people into our country,” he said (the phrase “TELL US ABOUT IT!” could be heard echoing around Nauru and Manus Island).