A quarter of a century ago, John Howard said he wanted Australians to be comfortable and relaxed about their history, their present, and their future.

Howard’s remarks were righteous and timely. Under the Keating government, Australians had come to resent being tarred with a black armband view of their history. They had sacrificed to embrace necessary reforms, but tolerance for the concurrent rise of a new cultural zeitgeist dictated from Canberra was exhausted.