A new year column should look forwards and upwards. A new year column should above all contain hope. And as we begin this new year, one which will mark 125 years of Australian federation, Prime Minister Albanese wants to restore that sense of hope. We desperately need it, given the horrific note on which 2025 ended. Fifteen predominantly Jewish people slain by Islamist terrorists as they celebrated peacefully at Bondi Beach. Australia is shaken. It’s a first that must be a last.

Rhetorical bromides about grace, unity and social cohesion won’t cut it. Australia needs to re-articulate its guiding vision. Who we are as a nation, together. Our values, what we stand for. What citizens are expected to uphold and what newcomers are expected to sign up to. Writing in these pages, the prime minister was able to name many wonderful things about our nation, but not the one big thing behind our success.

We’re a beacon to the world, but do we need to remind ourselves of our common values?Credit: Wayne Taylor

Australia is one of the world’s great liberal democracies. I know it’s unfashionable in some quarters to display patriotism, but I’ll say it: the world’s greatest liberal democracy. A nation and a system that can best be appreciated after travel. Because we quickly come to take for granted that which we live in every day. We focus on the flaws rather than the gravity-defying feat of a society sustained by “impersonal altruism” – the great product of liberal democracy, which has habituated us to act for the greater good even when we may not know the people who benefit.

There is no denying our imperfections. But we are also lucky to be able to haggle over blemishes that are relatively small.

Like the home stretch of gender equality. On International Women’s Day........

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