The Cultural Cringe is back. Fear that the Voice referendum will fail has triggered a sharp burst of cultural anxiety among educated Australians who falsely imagine that the rest of humanity has nothing better to do than look disdainfully upon their uncultivated land.

‘The eyes of the world are upon us,’ wrote Troy Bramston in the Australian last week, dipping his nib into a well of cliches. ‘History is calling on us. It is a test for all Australians. We must not fail.’

Credit for the term ‘cultural cringe’ belongs to Arthur Angell Phillips whose influential 1950 essay noted an intellectual tendency to make unflattering comparisons between Europe and Australia. Shocked by the crudeness of their own country, they would pause as if sub-audibly asking the question: ‘Yes, but what would a cultivated Englishman think of this?’

With the chances of the Yes case in the Voice referendum receding by the day, the elites have commandeered the Cringe to use as a weapon to beat the brows of those contemplating voting No. Nine months ago, they took heart from polling indicating the proposal would win in a wokeslide. However, the more Australians have learned about the proposal, the less they like it. 

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese seemed to be suffering from pangs of national self-doubt ten days ago in a Sunday morning television interview on Sky News Australia. ‘It will send a signal to ourselves and to the world that we’re a mature nation that is coming to terms with the fullness of our history,’ he said. ‘It will make us feel better about who we are as a nation.’

Albanese’s argument was perfectly pitched to cement the support of the hand-wringing elites already on board. It was strikingly out of key, however, with the sentiments of most Australians who already feel pretty positive about their nation. Few would dissent in the slightest degree from Barry McKenzie’s memorable declaration that we live in ‘the best bloody country in the world, no worries.’ 

Not every Australian is bent double with colonial guilt, least of all the 30 per cent of citizens born overseas. They have voted with their airline tickets in deciding to come here rather than, say, Venezuela.

Far from harming Australia’s reputation, a resounding rejection of the Voice can only enhance it, repairing the damage done to our national image during the frightdemic. 

Commentators like Tucker Carlson seemed perplexed by the docile acceptance in Australia of some of the world’s harshest lockdown measures. ‘When Americans think of Australia, they imagine a freer, tougher version of themselves, Steve Irwin, Crocodile Dundee, that kind of thing,’ he said. ‘The modern reality is a little different from what we imagine.’ 

A resounding No vote in the face of a chorus of hectoring from the political, media, and corporate elites will tell the world that Australia’s egalitarian, independent spirit has not been extinguished.