The language of Australian citizenship

The study of Australian citizenship could no longer be referred to as neglected. Empirical and theoretical studies have shown the development of both the idea and practice to be incremental and ad hoc: a source of inclusion and exclusion. Historians and political scientists have shown how citizenship was developed through studying legislative documents, constitutional devices, common law interpretation, and administrative practice. Whilst many have alluded to the speeches and texts of leaders, in my mind insufficient attention has been placed on the role of political language. My argument aims not only to show how Australian citizenship has been developed but also argues that public political language ( with a firm connection to social reality) has, in the absence of legal and official definition and explication, vastly shaped our past and present imaginings of the citizen.