There is far more sophistry in Howard's anglo-nationalism than in Menzies day. Howard's speech writers earnt their keep, whereas Menzies can make anyone cringe with; "I did but see her passing by, and yet I love her till I die."

I think we are seeing the rise of the latte-conservatives. A conservative commenteriat foisting policies on Australia that polling seems to indicate people the majority dont want. Devine is a good example, she prattles on and on about multiculturalism being dead, yet ACNeilson's poll suggests that 80% support or strongly support the policy.

Half of Australians have no confidence in the flag. These things suggest at the maximum nationalist conservatism can't eke a majority, at worst its policies/ideology are flat out unpopular with a large majority.

The policies are only being propelled by a government system that rewards statis and encumbancy. It helps to have a highly centralised media system. I think we are seeing a new chattering class; the latte-conservatives.

Gary,
Neo-assimilationist; I wouldn’t give the present conservative Govt that much creative credit.
This is what Bill Snedden, Minister for Immigration had to say, in 1969:
‘If [Asian] migration implied multi-cultural activities within Australian society, then it is not the type Australia wants. We must be a single Australian people and that’s a view I strongly hold’.
PM Gordon had this to say on the subject in the same year:
‘We must remain homogeneous … people of other races can come in and be assimilated’.

We seemed to have had social cohesion and national unity prior to 1996 when Howard and Hanson hit the scene with their “nobody asked us” attitude to non-white (Asian and Middle Eastern) immigration. It is they, and the small minority of bigoted Australians that share their views, that have upset the social cohesion.
The present Govt policy of indifference towards aborigines is also dated. It’s old style conservatism not seen since the 1960’s. I’ll tell what is sitting there hanging in mid air, and that’s Australian multiculturalism, and Aboriginal reconciliation. For the last 10 years now, I haven’t heard one Govt minister explicitly state the Govt’s support for these policies. In the last ten years the Govt through its dog whistling has openenly sort to marginalise Australians of Asian, Middle Eastern and Aboriginal background. Is it just coincidence that these Australians are non-white?
I hope that at the next federal election, Australians put social policy in front of economic policy when they go to vote.

Steve,

you are probably right. Maybe it is just the return of old-fashioned assimilation from the 1950s and 1960s that is based on the exclusion of non-white Australians.

I called it neo-assimilation for two reasons. Firstly, because I reckon a lot of the material is now coming from the US Republicans via Rupert Murdock's Australian.

Secondly, the conservative response to the Cronulla riots was to defend the white vigilatism 'reclaim the beaches' from the aggressive Lebanese Australians. That vigilante dimension is new.