How is Australianness represented by prime ministers?: Prime ministerial and party rhetoric of race, class, and gender on Australia Day and Anzac Day, 1990–2017

‘Our diggers would turn in their graves’: nostalgia and civil religion in Australia’s far-right

“…In April 2017, then Prime Minister Turnbull captured these Australian values, emphasising that these are the values the ANZACs fought for in the past and continue to fight for in contemporary conflict zones: 'Freedom, parliamentary democracy, the rule of law, mutual respect, equality, the opportunity to get ahead, the fair go -the opportunity to get ahead but lend a hand to those who fall behind' (Turnbull 2017). Turnbull, like other Prime Minsters before him, clearly attempted to link Anzac commemoration with the celebration of an inclusive version of Australian identity and patriotism (Bromfield and Page 2020).…”

“…Academic work on Anzac has consistently highlighted the ambiguous nature of the Anzac legend and how it is commemorated (Thomson 2013;Bromfield and Page 2020;Inglis 2008). For some, the Anzac legend itself, celebrating and commemorating death and rebirth, martyrdom, values of service to community and state, egalitarianism, mateship, and the fair go is a civil religion on its own (Linder 1988;West 2008;Davison 2017;Fallon 2017;Black 1990).…”

“…In the words of then Prime Minister Turnbull (2017), Anzac Day does 'not glorify war', but rather 'commemorates the triumph of the human spirit, the patriotism, the sacrifice, the courage, the endurance, the mateship'. The Anzac legend, however, is not universally accepted as an entirely inclusive concept, as it has been criticised for having a tendency to exclude women, Aboriginal soldiers and other minorities (Fallon 2017;Bromfield and Page 2020). Notwithstanding this criticism and ambiguity, for many, the Anzac legend constitutes an integral part of Australian identity, and the alleged values of the ANZAC troops continue to be evoked to guide the national ethos -although there are different interpretations of what this ethos should encompass.…”

“…This dual inclusive/exclusive function of civil religion also applies to the commemoration of Anzac in Australia. Scholars such as Kapferer (1988), have long argued that while the Anzac legend stands for egalitarianism and a 'fair go', it may also manifest itself as a more exclusionary concept that puts segments of society, in particular women, non-Whites and sexual minorities, at the margins (Fallon 2017;Bromfield and Page 2020).…”