Chris Roskilly

Dr. Peterson

Political Ideologies

10/25/2010

Nationalism in Australia: A Divide Between Patriotism and Ideology

The Australia First Party emerged onto the Australian political scene in 1996. The party incited

both a finite and interesting support despite its mostly radical ideology of nationalism. A similar

movement in the United States for comparison would be the Tea Party Movement. Despite its constant

criticisms, the party has been able to maintain a following which does not secure it a demanding

presence in the Australian political arena. This has not stopped the party from being on the political

radar as well as under the watch of the media. While the ideals may not be enough to be taken seriously

on a national level, they are more than enough to gain national attention. This begs the question of

relevance of ideologies outside of governing jurisdiction and more specifically, where does a line

emerge that separates misguided patriotism from political ideology that claims it wants a pure country

under the heading of a nationalist party? Nationalism is a ideology based around the concept that

people fall into distinct group, or nations. (Ball & Dagger pg 180) More extreme cases of nationalism

have incded Hitler's Nazi Party and the regime of Mussolini. There is however a less drastic case going

on today in Australia. In the country, today, the party is led by Jim Saleam. The party makes claims

that their policies are based from the old fashioned ideals of the Labor Party which were abandoned in

the early 1970's.

The Australian First Party was formed in June of 1996 by then Australian Labor Party leader

Graeme Campbell. Campbell had increasingly become more opposed to his own parties ideas and

wanted a change. Campbell was mostly in disagreement with Labor governing member Paul Keating

regarding the topics of deregulation, Aboriginal land rights, and multiculturalism. This separation of

ideals led to the formation of a new political party, the Australian First Party, which Campbell had high
aspirations for. This was short lived however due to the emergence of another budding political party in

the Australian arena, the One Nation party. Both of these parties shared a similar nationalism ideals but

opposed on some issues causing a divide in the Nationalist movement. The Australian First Party was

seen as to radical and quickly became overshadowed by the gained popularity of the One Nation

movement.

The discouragement led to a changing of leadership in 2001 when Campbell resigned and was

replaced by Diane Teasdale. Under Teasdale, the party saw an expansion from their origin of New

South Wales to Sydney in an attempt to draw more attention and support. The Sydney expansion in

2002 led to the emergence of Jim Saleam into the Australian First Party. Saleam was hired to be the

Secretary of the party. The Sydney inclusion was only a part of the expansion under Teasdale. In 2002,

the party also created the Patriotic Youth League. This was an outreach to the youth voice in politics on

behalf of the Australia First Party. Stuart McBeth, a college student, organized and led the initiative

which was criticized for being both extremist and racist. Between 2002 and 2007, the party attempted

to redefine itself as a “politics of New World Order liberal-globalist-capitalism." This was a finite

attempt to separate themselves from the racist and extremest criticisms the party suffered under

Campbell's leadership.

Despite the attempts at a strong focus on policies, and keeping controversy far from the

attention of the media, The Australia First Party was plagued with predominate members who had

preconceived political issues. This was an issue that was worsened by the lack of a concise ideal. Many

party members argued amongst themselves and separated from the party to start their own, creating

more competition instead of unity. One example of this is Darrin Hodges who was expelled from the

party in 2007 on the account of being “Christian Zionists” and being in the league of Zionist

Occupational Government. The year 2007 also saw the departure of several other predominate

members including Jim Saleam. This led to the biggest fractioning of the party which would stage a

three year battle for control of the party between Saleam and Teasdale. Upon Saleam's departure, he
quickly gained control of other party branches such as Toowoomba and Newcastle. He also took

control of membership and incorporated the “Australian First Party (NSW).” Teasdale refused to

recognize these branches and began to operate branches of the same party as its own separate entity.

Teasdale also said that the control and decision making on the side of Saleam was illegal and

threatened legal actions to be taken against Saleam. Saleam reached a targeted 500 members in July of

2009 and began registering the party with the Federal Elections Committee. The party completed all the

registration requirements in June 2010, one month before the general elections in August. Saleam had

also campaigned a new youth league in March of 2010 in anticipation of the registration coming

through before elections. The “Eureka Youth League” was an initiative for “new young nationalists.”

Since its inception the party has not sat idle waiting for government approval before stating its

voice. In october of 2005, a collective 15 members protested the suspension of a university professor

outside the Kirribilli House. The Canadian born professor had extremist views on immigration in

Australia and feared it would turn Australia into a “third world state.” December 11th, saw a much

higher participation in a vocal movement to alert the population of the party in Cronulla. Pamphlets and

stickers were dispersed among the crowd of estimated 5,000 who were protesting Lebanese gang

activity. On June 28th , the party passed out pamphlets concerning the number of immigrant workers at

a protest of Howard Government's industrialist regulation laws. The pamphlets also addressed the

concern of wages being undermined by the workers and the denial of jobs to Australians as a result.

Later that year in October, the group resurfaced to protest the immigration and asylum seeking

legislation being proposed by Bruce Baird. One of the largest demonstrations by the party was seen in

2007 when 2,500 leaflets were distributed in Tamworth, New South Wales stating that refugees spread

disease and crime. This came as a result of the presiding councils decision to rehabilitate five Sudanese

families in the area after a initial rejection of the action. Actions like these have brought the attention of

the party from a policy heavy inquiry to a question of the ethics of the party which is seen to be

extremest and racist opposed to just far right. This begs an interesting question. Where is the line
between the ideals of a political ideology and the policy making efforts and statements made by the

party of said political ideology? Are political ideals neutral until applied to the standing state of a

governing body and the country it precised over, and is nationalism inherently racist and discriminatory

or does it just get a bad name because of its following and their interpretation of it and personal beliefs?

The Australia First Party prides itself on eight core policies. They are to Ensure Australia

Retains Full Independence, Rebuild Australian Manufacturing Industries, Reduce and Limit

Immigration, Abolish Multiculturalism, Introduce Citizen's Initiated Referenda, Strengthen the Family,

and to Strive To Rebuild A United Australia. Seemingly these eight core ideas go well with the concept

of nationalism. Nationalism is defined as the strong identification of a group of individuals with a

political entity defined in national terms. This is often paired with the idea that one group has the right

to statehood. Nationalism as an ideology takes these ideals and transposes them to political action

through policy formation and implementation. Nationalism generally categorizes by nationality

however, not necessarily race. Nationalism emphasizes collective identity - a 'people' must be

autonomous, united, and express a single national culture. The nationalist movement in Australia

moves to secure the rights and what is deemed proper resources, such as right to health, and jobs to

citizens of Australia. Through their policies, the Australia First Party hopes to ensure that citizens are

taken care of first and foremost. Their first core policy specifically states the desire to maintain

compassionate and fair in our Nations international dealings. The nationalist strive to end

multiculturalism because they see multiculturalism as a decay in the fabric of solidarity. Different

views beget different focuses. However, despite the mindset of an “us” versus “them” view on policies

for Australia, the criticisms against the Australia First Party, and to a broader extent Nationalist

globally, is that “them” remains to be a solidarity of the rest of the global community but generally a

fractioned group of different ethnic peoples that are put under attack individually on a per circumstance

basis. To use a strong defense for putting yourself up against the world, you must keep the world as a

whole. Fractioning the world in to smaller “bite sized” groups to deal with easily concludes with your
party and ideological following being viewed as a bully and xenophobic. The line between ideology

and patriotism is decided by blatant discrimination. To discourage the rehabilitation of families into a

neighborhood for being foreign is xenophobic. Legislation on the maintainability of neighborhoods

with a high level of immigrant families in regards to citizen protection and its effects on citizen

lifestyle is another thing altogether and more nationalistic in ideology that xenophobic in reaction.

The Australia First Party is a prime example of nationalism carried out incorrectly when it

comes to the political spectrum. Currently the main focus on the party is job security in a more

globalized economy and immigration reform. These topics are also very important to conservatives,

however, the nationalism movement moves to protect the citizen from globalization and the loss of jobs

through outsourcing while conservatives are fighting to maintain the current stability of globalization

and allow for outsourcing to protect the citizen as a consumer as opposed to the worker.

Currently, the Australia First Party is creating more attention through their protests and

ideologies than their voter turnout. Campbell balmes the swift rise of the One Nation party for early

low election results stating that they took 8.5% of the votes away from him. In 2001, the Australian

First Party decided to not run and contest in the elections. November 2005 showed that Diane Teasdale

stood within a small public eye as she received 1373 first preference votes for the Shepparton City

Council Office, this represented 4.37% of valid votes cast. It was a small number in the grand elections,

but a pivotal point in the realization of where the party stood as a whole in eye of the government and

the public at large. The following year, representative Bruce Preece was elected to office while running

under the Australia First Party. He was elected Councillor for the St John's Wood Ward of the City of

Prospect. Since then the influence of the Australian First Party has again wained. This however has

ceased to halt their movement as they are now more consolidated and streamlined as ever.

The Australian First Party in Australia is an interesting look at nationalism not only abroad but

today as opposed to a historical reference. The desire for citizen protection can be argued by almost any

ideology however, generally the ideologies of politics attempt to branch out and cover more broad
human nature ideas. The finite extent of concentration has put nationalism in question to its validity as

a ideology as opposed to a racism movement however, the makings of a political ideology are there. To

be taken more seriously, they must separate themselves from their xenophobic tendencies, or at least

hide them until election season is over.

Works Cited