THE NAKED CITY – AUSTRALIA DAY ON NAURU – OI, OI, OI!

What is about Australia Day that makes some people want to walk into Coles and walk out (possibly without paying), with an Aussie flag tank top emblazoned with “Oi, Oi, Oi!”? As we’re constantly told, Australia Day is now all-embracing and means different things to different folks.

If you are a redneck bogan or a member of ‘Reclaim Australia’, it’s an opportunity to drape yourself Pauline-Hanson-style in the Aussie flag and work yourself into a patriot fervour before dumping your VB cans along the side of the road. On the other hand, if you embrace modern multicultural Australia it’s the chance to participate in numerous feel-good government sponsored events right across the city and suburbs. Then again, you could be an Indigenous Australian, and for you “Invasion Day” events defy all displays of nationalism.

But what about the folks up on Nauru – the Aussie expats, the Nauruans and the hundreds of refugees living in the everyday hell of tent city? We’ll probably never know what happens on the 26 January in Nauru, unless some daring journalist coughs up the   $8,000 visa fee to visit this Alcatraz in the Pacific – but we can certainly hazard a guess.

No doubt the large number of highly paid Australian security staff who man the detention centre will gather around some kind of symbolic barbeque to toast their heritage with slabs of imported Aussie cans. Some of their Nauruan counterparts may well be invited to join the celebration, grateful to Australia that their corrupt and bankrupt economy has been revived through an industry of human misery. And if rising sea levels eventually drown the tiny phosphate spit, the likelihood is that they too will one day be calling Australia home.

But what of the thousand or more refugees and asylum seekers now marooned indefinitely on one of the most remote destinations on this planet? No Aussie Day cheer for them. No face painting for the kiddies or drunken chants of “Oi, Oi, Oi!”. There is however a distinct link between their current predicament and the historical origins of this country. After all, it was “detention”, albeit of convicts, many convicted of the most minor of crimes, that marked the beginnings of this country.

In the same way that some indigenous Australians recognise the 26th of January as Invasion Day or Survival Day, maybe we could adopt another title – “Detention Day”. It’s the day we recognise the plight of all asylum seekers, especially those on Christmas Island, Manus and Nauru. Just like Invasion Day it’s unlikely to be a big hit, with both the bogan brigade and those who see Australia Day as a celebration of national identity, uniting all who live in this country in an expression of pride and purpose.

In a democratic society there’s no reason why all three days – “Australia”, “Invasion” and “Detention” – can’t coexist, each attracting their own group of supporters – and of course inevitable detractors. Aussie Day can have its “Oi, Oi, Oi!” tank tops and yes, even more bloody fireworks. “Detention Day” might look to the ironic image of the three koalas above – quintessentially Australian but deaf, dumb and blind to the suffering of the thousands still imprisoned offshore.