‘With no political opposition to speak of, Howard's
conquests have been in cultural life, with historiography thrown in. Siding
with an unchanging clique of far-right commentators, he has effectively stifled
debate about Australia's bloody colonial past while deriding the "black
armband theory of history": that is, the truth of a genocidal racism that
continues to devastate the Aboriginal people. His patriotic, or "put out
more flags," campaign is pure George W. Bush. Schools have been ordered to
erect flagpoles, and on "Australia Day," January 26th, which
"celebrates" the "settlement" of another people's country,
flags are distributed and often displayed with gormless aggression. 

This was never part of Australian
life; Americans wrapped themselves in their flag, but not we Australians. We
saw it as a respectful reminder of those who had gone to fight and die in
Australia's mostly catastrophic imperial wars, who "did their best."
The Howard regime has changed all this. The little leader wears a plastic flag
in his lapel, just like Bush, and puts his hand on his heart, just like Bush,
and reinforces a race-based society, just like Bush. While the neglect of New
Orleans is Bush's symbol, the contempt shown the first Australians is
Howard's.’ 

Put Out More Flags: The
Making of Another America