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@the_great_she_elephant wrote:Maybe age has something to do with it. The West Australian today published the result of a poll conducted by Painted Dog Researcch which showedthat among of West australians aged 18-39 55% wanted to keep it on 26th Jan, 26% wanted it changed and 19% didn't care.
In the 40=59 age group it was 67%, 20% and 13% respectively
And among the over 60s 78% 14% and 8%
Put me down as a 'don't care'. I can't really see the point in it. We Poms have never needed a National Day to wave flags and convince ourselves we are better than everybody else.
I,m not big on flag waving either, but there's nothing wrong with celebrating and taking just a little bit of pride in all of the good things this country has to offer.
For all its faults, we have relative freedom, free speech within reason and protection from obvious defamatory remarks. Compared to most countries we are incredibly wealthy and while our social services could always be better, no-one has to starve in Australia. We have a great public health system, free education to year 12, a political system that generally works pretty well most of the time and when its time for a change it comes without bloodshed. We have been very lucky to avoid terrorism, have a consistent rule of law, reasonably accessible to most people and police available in emergencies.
The recent fires have shown how strong our volunteer culture is in Australia and how we DO support others in times of crisis. Our environment is relatively clean and unspoilt compared to most other countries and we can still find a place where we are the only person from one horizon to the other if we want too. We can easily find deserted beaches for a " quiet " moment 
or a spot of fishing and if you are lucky, you can still land a good sized fish.
Despite what a few noisy fringe groups would have us believe, we have a good record of treating people with respect and equality and have one of the most successful blended, multi cultural communities in the world. There are certainly unresolved issues with aboriginal Australians, but these would be best served by working together, rather than creating the division that some seem to delight in.
There will always be further progress to be made, but on Australia Day we should celebrate all the great things this country has to offer. Compared to most other countries, it really is a pretty good place to live.
