This letter appeared in the 15th January 2013 edition of the Campbelltown Macarthur Chronicle:
The "greeting" pointedly omits New Australians, non-Christians and anyone whose grandparents were not born here. She chooses Australia Day to be divisive, with another thinly veiled jibe at anyone whose Christian "values" do not match hers (which is nearly everyone).
It's strange that that some people can be so full of intolerance for other people with different cultures, beliefs or life styles and still call themselves Christian. It is true that some migrants have difficulty assimilating but it has always been like that and it works both ways. We need to help them assimilate and they need to make the effort, which most do. We get nowhere by alienating them after they have arrived. Do we all need to be her clones?
Australia's Constitution is secular, almost totally devoid of religion; and it would be far more accurate to say that Australian culture was built on British convict culture than to say that it was built on the Bible. The lady does like to rewrite history to suit her own purposes - and she repeats this error with her comment about our forefathers assimilating into Australian culture. What would the aborigines think of that, I wonder?
EDIT 22nd January 2013:
The lady's continuing attempts to link nationalism with Christianity were addressed by a letter writer in this week's Chronicle, who put it better than I could. He responded: