Editorial: Aussie anthem tweak a nudge in the right direction

Australia has made a small change to the country's national anthem. Photo / Getty Images

OPINION

Change can come in bold strokes or small steps that can gather momentum over time.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's decision to change a word in the national anthem to acknowledge indigenous history is a bit of both.

It's only a tweak - changing "young and free" to "one and free" - but it was done at the beginning of the year, which always marks a fresh start and it is the first update of Advance Australia Fair since 1984.

It's a move that comes after an increase internationally in white extremism in recent years and also the focus of the Black Lives Matter movement.

And it's also seems an attempt to tweak those "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie" attitudes.

"During the past year we have showed once again the indomitable spirit of Australians and the united effort that has always enabled us to prevail as a nation," Morrison said.

"It is time to ensure this great unity is reflected more fully in our national anthem. While Australia as a modern nation may be relatively young, our country's story is ancient, as are the stories of the many First Nations peoples whose stewardship we rightly acknowledge and respect."

Areas of life such as sports, culture and commerce can help create the environment for wider changes. For instance, the national rugby league in Australia has for years highlighted indigenous players.

From now on, part of being a true-blue Aussie holding a XXXX and watching sport will involve belting out "Australians all let us rejoice / For we are one and free" in stadiums at home and abroad.

There's always some resistance to even just tinkering with traditions, though we never hold on to all of them and they evolve with time.

Some people in New Zealand a couple of decades ago would not have warmed to the then change to our anthem being performed in te reo and English. It became the normal, expected rendition. Now we are in an era of wide interest in the country's languages and cultures.

Boxing great Anthony Mundine has slammed a one-word change to Australia’s national anthem as “tokenistic”, saying the whole song needs to be rewritten to incorporate Indigenous Australian heritage. https://t.co/sZ99PgSCP6

— SBS News (@SBSNews) January 1, 2021

Symbolic changes are easily attacked because they are, well, symbolic.

Some have been quick to write off Morrison's move as tokenism and clearly more needs to follow to make practical differences in people's lives.

Australia's Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, described it as "common sense" but added that "it doesn't change the important power problems First Nations people face".

Making progress is often about getting people used to change and introducing new habits to replace old ones.

In a democracy it can be like herding cats. Unless someone gives it a nudge along, outdated patterns remain and society is not rejuvenated.

The public has to be willing to adapt. If the will is not there, the groundwork to bring people along has not been sufficiently done or the public is put off by the process, then a project can crash indefinitely.

New Zealand's experience in trying to adopt a new flag is on the back-burner. On the other hand, Scotland's failed independence bid six years ago now looks like the warm-up for a potentially successful bid in the near future. Attitudes have changed with Brexit and the pandemic.

Morrison has chosen to spend a drop of goodwill built up from his country's mostly positive handling of the pandemic in an effort to encourage acceptance of all Australians.

That's to be applauded.