In an era of foreign interference and information warfare, a divided nation is vulnerable to coercion, cyber attacks and disinformation – allowing adversaries to pick us off, one tribe at a time. Social cohesion, built on trust in each other and our institutions, is one of our strongest defences. For this reason, national unity cannot be left to chance. Australians recognise what’s at stake. According to the 2026 Lowy Institute Poll, 52 per cent of Australians regard “a breakdown in social cohesion” as a critical threat to Australia’s vital interests.
ANU National Security College research reinforces the point, showing Australians increasingly see social cohesion as a component of national resilience. But in a country where 32 per cent were born overseas, what unites us? It is not a shared ethnicity, ancestry or religion that brings us together. One thing that can truly unite us is a commitment to common values – freedom, equality, a fair go, and a belief in democracy and rule of law, reward for effort, and rights with responsibilities. These values belong to all Australians, whether their surname is Smith, Song or Singh. We cannot assume they are self-evident. Our values must be explained and embraced by every generation. Last week, former PM John Howard wrote of his experience that “most new Australians happily combined absorption into the Australian mainstream with affection for the country of their birth or background”.
Today, Mandarin is the most widely spoken migrant language in Australia. Almost 700,000 Australians speak Mandarin at home and a quarter report speaking English “not well” or “not at all”. A first-generation Chinese migrant may speak English at work but Mandarin at home, while older migrants may struggle to learn English. These challenges are understandable. But permanent linguistic isolation serves the interests of neither migrants nor the nation. English is not just another language in Australia; it is the common language through which citizens participate in our national life. We need to lift English proficiency and help people participate fully in Australian civic culture. But we cannot wait for language barriers to disappear before seeking to unite Australians around the values that define us. This is especially important for Chinese Australians, as strategic competition between the US and China intensifies and Beijing grows more assertive in our region — from naval vessels circumnavigating Australia to live-fire exercises and ballistic missile tests. The full participation of Chinese Australians in our civic life therefore matters more than ever. Beijing’s new Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress brings this into sharp focus. It contemplates legal accountability for people beyond China’s borders who are deemed to undermine “ethnic unity and progress”.
I have heard from Australians with heritage from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Tibet who are concerned about what this could mean for them. Australia must reject attempts by foreign powers to extend sovereignty beyond territory and nationality to claims based on ethnicity or ancestry. This should be a red line for any Australian government. Foreign powers should be under no illusion: Australia will defend the sovereignty of our nation and the freedoms of our citizens. Chinese Australians need to know their fellow Australians stand with them and their government will protect their freedom to speak, associate, worship and live their lives free from interference. That is a message our national leaders should deliver to every Australian community vulnerable to intimidation. But the Albanese government’s failure to stand resolutely with Jewish Australians against antisemitism gives me little confidence it will show the moral clarity required to defend others. Australian Jews have been subjected to horrific attacks by those who wrongly hold them responsible for a foreign conflict and the actions of a foreign government. We should ensure others do not suffer the same fate, including Chinese Australians who embrace our values but may be targeted because of the actions of Beijing. A Coalition government will always defend Australians and their right to a way of life that rests on our shared values.
I will contribute to this outcome by releasing a series of short videos in Mandarin promoting national pride and the values that unite us – beginning with freedom. I am recording these videos myself, despite my rusty Chinese, because I want Chinese Australians to hear directly from a fellow Australian that our freedoms are theirs too – and that protecting them is in our national interest. Australia’s national unity is not a feel-good sentiment; it is a national security imperative. It is time we treated it as such.
