Wanting to preserve the Australian identity isn’t xenophobic – it’s essential

On 31 August, anti-immigration sentiment spilled onto Australian streets. Protesters waved placards and called for an end to immigration, framing newcomers as a threat to the Aussie way of life.

As a third-year law student at Monash University, born and raised in Melbourne to parents who immigrated to this country more than 40 years ago, I find this rhetoric troubling, not just on a personal level, but also on a national one.

At its core, the idea of being "anti-immigration" in Australia is contradictory. Modern Australia is a settler society ­– European settlement was, in essence, a massive wave of immigration, albeit one at the devastating cost of dispossession and violence against Indigenous peoples.

To position yourself as anti-immigration, while benefitting from the same events that took place in the past, is an irony too great to ignore.

But there is another truth worth confronting: wanting to talk about an Australian identity is not something that should be dismissed as xenophobic or politicised. Every nation is known for something, and Australia is no different. Democracy, giving everyone a "fair go", mateship, and a reckoning with Indigenous history are all central to how we define ourselves as a nation.

The question is not whether we should be apologetic of the Australian identity – but how to ensure that identity is preserved, shared, respected, and most of all – respected and enriched by migrants rather than ignored.

This is where my frustration lies.

Although I'm a child to immigrant parents, being born in this country means that I have grown up deeply connected to Australia. I was educated here, I will work here, and I will contribute here. I know what it means to value fairness, to appreciate Indigenous history and the significance of land, and to call myself proudly both Indian and Australian.

Yet, too often, when people like me say we are "Indian-Australian", it is met with ridicule – as though dual identities somehow make us less Australian. Where is the political narrative that educates this settler society and provides for second-generation immigrants, young people like me to stand firmly in both identities at once?

Nevertheless, in my own circles, I do see the challenges clearly.

Many young people I know that have recently come to Australia do not feel connected to an "Australian identity" in any real sense. They may embrace the opportunities Australia offers, but are unfamiliar with our values of mateship, the spirit of a "fair go", and the complexity of Indigenous Australian history that was introduced to me as early as primary school.

It isn't their fault – it's because we lack strong frameworks that help new migrants genuinely connect with Australia beyond the economic and social opportunities it provides.