NATIONAL IDENTITY
Robb, Andrew. The Importance of a Shared National Identity. 27 November 2006. 12 October 2013
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This source is the transcript from Australian scholar Andrew Robb’s speech “The Importantce of a Shared National Identity” at the Australian National University in Canberra, in 2006. In his speech, Andrew Robb addresses his concerns for the possibility of Australia losing its national identity as the country becomes more diverse with the frequent and increasing arrival of immigrants in the recent past. He quotes part of the chorus of an Australian song called “I am Australian” by Bruce Woodley and Dobe Newton, “we are one but we are many.” (Robb). Even though this is not entirely related to multilingualism, it relates to the feeling of belonging to a nation, of having a sense of national identity. Andrew Robb defines a shared national identity as “a strong identification with a set of core values, whilst permiting a large measure of personal freedom and “give and take”” (Robb). Andrew Robb suggests this incapacity of some immigrants to adapt to the Australian way of life to also have negative impacts on the economy (Robb). However, I disagree with his point of view, as I believe that possible negative repercussions originating from the immigrant community might not necessarily be caused by the inability of some immigrants to integrate the shared national identity, but because of other unrelated reasons.