Clubs Australia recently launched a campaign against the government's proposed pokies pre-commitment scheme, designed to stop problem gamblers from losing too much on the one-armed bandits. The pokies reform, lobbied for by independent members Andrew Wilkie and Nick Xenophon, was advertised in newspapers and online as a licence to gamble and unequivocally ''un-Australian''.
Well, dammit, I wish someone had told me. I don't want anything to do with it if it's un-Australian. I mean that would make me un-Australian and god knows what would happen then. But this worries me, do I really know which things are un-Australian and which things aren't? Kangaroos, Uluru, Vegemite — now that's Australian, but what about the rest of things that compose this universe?
The term has been around for the best part of the 20th century, rising to prominence in the 1990s but still none of us can figure out what it means. One historian, Klaus Neumann recentlysearched through decades of parliamentary proceedings in Hansard to try and define the term by the people that use it the most — politicians. Neumann found no logic behind the use of the term, instead concluding that politicians' references to un-Australian were basically ''incoherent'' and that the term ''has barely any historical reference points''.
Whole social studies have looked into the term and have found much the same thing, it means any manner of things to different people, albeit under the same very broad pop culture umbrella. They're all associated but not exclusive to ''violence, intolerance, selfishness, waste, racism, divisiveness, separatism and immodesty''.
With a bit of research I've now made this handy list for you readers out there to realise when you're endorsing something that just doesn't quite cut the Australian mustard enough to belong to this wide brown land. And so in no particular order all the things that I've been told are un-Australian:
1. Not eating lamb, especially on Australia Day - Sam Kekovichtold me that was definitely un-Australian.
2. ''Dibber-Dobber'' Julian Assange - Illustrious men's magazineZoo told me he was not only un-Australian, but the ''un-Australian of the Year''. Gillard and Rudd both featured in the top 5.
3. Pauline Hanson's jailing - The red-haired fox of Australian politics, who very nearly got a spot in the NSW parliament, told us herself that her imprisonment was un-Australian, as well as countless other things during her tenure in parliament. Ironically she too has also been named un-Australian.
4. Lleyton Hewitt — Or just about any Australian sporting star who's had a bit of a sook.
5. Anti-globalisation protesters, nuclear testing in the Pacific and comments by Sydney's Muslim cleric Sheik Taj Aldin Alhilali— Howard told us they were all un-Australian.
6. Asylum seekers — surely there's a radio shock jock somewhere that told me they were un-Australian, I mean come on, they're not even from Australia. How un-Australian can you get?
7. Anything to do with ''banning'' Christmas because of political correctness — Don Randall, the man that brought you the term''Gay-BC'' for the nation's broadcaster, told us that ''banning'' Christmas carols was un-Australian.
8. Vegetarians — Everyone from Sam Kekovich to Wil Anderson (who is himself a vego) has told me these tofu sausage eaters are un-Australian.
9. Dole bludgers and tax cheats — Christopher Skase also comes to mind and all definitely un-Australian.
10. WorkChoices — the ACTU's secretary at the time, Greg Combet, also told us the Howard government's controversial IR laws were ''unfair and un-Australian''.
The list could seriously go on and on and on.
So, at this point all we have to go on is what other people tell us is un-Australian, even if it's ridiculous, even it's conflicting and even if it's obviously over the top. It's a term that can be used anywhere, any time, to discredit and spook us about anything. But hey, maybe me questioning the term ''un-Australian'' is itself un-Australian. Just what kind of dole-bludging, vego, hippy, student am I?
Bella Counihan works at the Canberra Press Gallery and writes for the National Times.
