Things have come to a pretty pass in Australia if you can’t say something in praise of our country without being damned as a racist and a bigot with a distorted view of history.

But that’s what happened to Labor’s shadow education spokeswoman, Tanya Plibersek, when she stood up over the Australia Day long weekend for proud patriotism and proposed teaching the citizenship pledge in schools.

Here’s the full text of my speech to the Sydney Opera House citizenship ceremony today.