The following is transcribed from the Governor’s address to the ANA membership
Friends, Australia isn’t just a continent, nor is it just an economic zone to be pillaged by international finance. Australia is a nation state. It’s the synthesis of an ethnic group, and a state. A political apparatus to do the will of our people. Our concept of nation and national identity has developed continually since the landing of the First Fleet.
It reached it’s zenith at the federation of the colonies; when all of the colonies of this continent formed a single federation with the motto; One nation and one destiny.
Any honest review of the historical literature that is available to us would show you that we came to these shores without malice or contempt to any indigenous tribes that were here. In fact, our early relationships with the tribes were very promising. In fact, there was a lot of peace and mutual benefit between the tribes and the early Australian settlers.
Our forebears came to these shores after being driven out of their own land on the commons through the Enclosure Acts and driven into to desperation. Our forebears when they found this land found millions of empty acres not meaningfully possessed, not meaningfully used. And its from these endless empty acres that through blood sweat and tears, that our forebears built up a great garden – a nation, which has been at multiple points in our history the envy of the world. With some of the highest standards of living and employment.
We were a beacon of hope. A new form of civilisation, casting off some of the evils from the old world and taking on the new. An equitable and compassionate nation.
We can say all this and without malice or contempt for anyone else, we can assert that our nation and its ethnic makeup is exclusively that of European stock. No non-European can truly be an Australian. It’s our heritage from Europe, principally Britain and the British Isles. Our heritage, political institutions, and traditions all come from the single wellspring of civilisation – and we’re proud of that. Its those things which make Australia as great as it is today. Or great as it has been.
We wish for peace and cooperation with our neighbors in Asia. We wish peace on the world. We have no malice or imperial ambitions to anyone else. But, this doesn’t stop us from asserting the fact that, mass immigration and diluting the stock of this country with non-European migrants is nothing short of a death sentence for the Australia as we know it. As a nation state with institutions of European descent and high virtues of compassion and peace, the rule of law, organisation of society and culture without corruption.
We maintain that the moral and social decline of this country needs to be stopped. That people need to be motivated by more than hedonism and the pursuit of short-term pleasure. People should be motivated by high ideals of national life and character. They should be before us, as a homogeneous people, with a shared concept of our future and the hope and the promise of a great future.
We need to be like our pioneer forebears. We need to be brave, we need to be charitable, assertive, self sacrificing and courageous.
So we make a plea to all Australian men this Australia Day: to stand firm. Without any need to flirt with malice or contempt for other people. Celebrate the great heritage of this country. Participate where you can in the Australian Natives Association, and in all things advance Australia.
M.K. Grant
Governor – ANA Canberra
26 January 2024