Configuration of National Identity and Citizenship in Australia: Migration, Ethnicity and Religious Minorities

National identity is the sum of all the qualities, real or imaginary, which in the minds of Australian people distinguishes Australia (Crabb:1985,19). ‘The pursuit of national identity requires an emphasis on the features of an Australian “narrative” which identify a heritage, as well as institutions, held in common.’ Yet the dilemma that Australian narrative faces are the rights of aborigines and a variety of immigrant cultural traditions, making the idea of a single national identity implausible- unless the notion of identity is emptied of any substance(Kukathas: 1997, 178).