Australian values - Anyone ?

I spent a considerable part of my Saturday reading newspaper editorials, and reports on Peter Costello's speech. Still haven't read exactly what he said, but I think I have got the gist of it now. One phrase that seems to be getting a fair amount of use in the wake of Cronulla, and now Pete's speech, is this notion of "Australian values".

Just one question. What the hell are Australian values ? More to the point, what are values we as Australians apparently hold that are so unique from the rest of society that we need to label them Aussie. I myself do put considerable value on the quality of the local bakery's "Beef and Burgundy" pie, but I am not entirely sure whether deporting people for preferring a kebab is really in the spirit of things. I may be cynical, but I am starting to get the feeling this phrase may just have been invented by anti-multiculturists, looking for a phrase that sounds completely reasonable, invokes feelings of patriotism, but means absolutely nothing in real terms.

I detest the abuse of such phrases and symbols (like the Aussie flag during the Cronulla riots), because it manipulates our pride in who we are. It uses our national identity as a means to motivate fear and prejudice for all those who are different. It is ironic that a phrase like "Australian values" should in fact unite people, yet here it is being used to divide by virtue of its arbitrarily determined definition.