11 August

Mateship out of the Preamble! The Prime Minister announces the new, heavily amended wording for the preamble. Mateship is gone replaced by more expansive words about the national spirit in the last phrase and a reference to the sacrifices made by Australians defending our country and liberty in wars. There is also a lengthy reference to Indigenous Australians as the nation’s first people, having a deep kinship with their lands and honouring them for their ancient and continuing cultures. See the full text in Hot Topics and in our Section on the Preamble. Mr Howard said that he was very sorry to see mateship go but that he had sacrificed the word to get a new version of the Preamble accepted by the Democrats. But he could not pass up the opportunity to get a preamble “simply because I couldn’t get my way on one particular word”. He said of mateship, “I love the word”.