When I turned on the TV this morning, bleary-eyed, I was greeted by a children's choir singing 'I Am Australian'. It was glorious! The ABC is, apparently, turning 90 and is pushing all the buttons to remind d us that it is The Australian BC, not some commercial, money-making enterprise, determined to push some narrow point of view.
I've said before that we need to ditch our current national anthem and adopt I Am Australian. The current dirge was written in the 19th century as a patriotic song celebrating our ties with the Mother Country and, despite all the tweaks that have occurred over the years it is still a tuneless dirge with no musical merit. Lines like 'we've boundless plains to share' are an embarrassment when refugees are more likely to be offered a bed in an 8-man hut on Manus Island than a view of the plains.
It's embarrassing, also, at events like the Olympic Games when the Australian National Anthem is played and the mournful Da da da da da, da-da-da, da da da da dada rings out across the stadium. We deserve better. I'm not suggesting a military hymn like The Star Spangled Banner, Deutchland Uber Alles or La Marseillaise, nor a simpering paean of praise like God Save the Queen. I believe we can do better and a song celebrating the unity of Australia, a community which has brought together the world's oldest civilisation and migrants from untold nations is what we need.
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