Australians (or Australians) have been ingenious in adapting their cultural roots to adapt them to the country's new environment, climate and resources. Modern society affirms a unique and secure identity through its diversity, language (s), architecture, “Australianized” cuisine, jungle identity and sporting prowess. As this is Australia Day, I would like to reflect tonight on the topic of identity and also explore with you how identity intersects with what my daily work is: human rights. Although I have experience in public policy and have counted on Professor Emeritus John Power as one of my professors and Professor Mark Considine as my doctoral supervisor (and I want to thank them both), I don't intend to keep up with current debates on public policy.
However, what I do know is that human rights do not occupy a comfortable place in public policy dialogue, even though the results that can be sought through public policy interventions are similar (although they can be called differently): social cohesion, diversity or capacity. By choosing to focus on identity today, I hope to build a bridge between the worlds in which we work. The Australian Constitution established a federal democracy and enshrined human rights such as Articles 41 (right to vote), 80 (right to a trial by jury) and 116 (freedom of religion) as fundamental principles of Australian law, and included economic rights, such as restricting the government from acquiring property only on fair terms. It is believed that there were between 200 and 300 Australian Aboriginal languages at the time of first contact with Europeans, but only about 70 of them have survived and all but 20 are now in danger of extinction.
Among the representatives of the obscene trend of Australian comedy are Rodney Rude, Austen Tayshus and Chad Morgan. The Australian coin, including all the coins and the five-dollar bill, bears an image of the late monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The popularity of the Australian series V8 Supercars is steadily growing around the world, where television coverage allows it. Voting is mandatory in Australia and the government essentially consists of a group that holds the majority of seats in the Australian House of Representatives and selects a leader who becomes prime minister.
Australians have also easily embraced new innovations and technologies instead of sticking with things just because they have worked in the past. Unlike other cultures based on a welcoming landscape that seek to protect from others, Australian colonists experienced great difficulties and had to support each other in order to survive. In the late 1960s and 1970s, the influx of government funding allowed the development of a new generation of filmmakers who told distinctly Australian stories, including directors Peter Weir, George Miller and Bruce Beresford. The Federation in 1901 was the culmination of a growing sense of national identity that had developed during the second half of the 19th century, as seen in the works of painters and writers of the Heidelberg School, such as Banjo Paterson, Henry Lawson and Dorothea Mackellar.
Australian surfers popularized the ugg boot, a unisex sheepskin boot with fleece inside, a bronzed outer surface and a synthetic sole. Over time, swimming briefs, better known locally as speedos or, more recently, as parakeet smugglers, became an iconic swimsuit for Australian men.
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