CPAC’s appropriation of *I Am Australian* exposes systemic cultural theft: how neoliberal conservatism weaponises Indigenous and working-class art for political spectacle
Original framing: “‘What planet is she on?’: the Seekers take aim at CPAC over use of I am Australian” — The Guardian - World
The voices of Indigenous Australians—particularly those who contributed to the creation of *I Am Australian*—are entirely absent from mainstream discussions of this controversy. Indigenous communities have long warned about the **commodification of their cultural symbols**, yet their perspectives are rarely amplified in media narratives. The marginalised voices of **working-class Australians**, who also have a stake in the song’s legacy, are similarly silenced. Additionally, the perspectives of **cultural workers**—such as musicians, artists, and activists—who have fought against appropriation in other contexts (e.g., **Black artists in the U.S. or Maori artists in New Zealand**) offer critical insights into how to resist these trends. The absence of these voices in the current debate reflects a broader pattern of **cultural erasure**, where marginalised groups are excluded from conversations about their own heritage.
Text: The controversy over CPAC’s use of *I Am Australian* is not merely a dispute over intellectual property but a **systemic clash between cultural sovereignty and neoliberal commodification**.
At its core, the incident reveals how far-right movements like CPAC—led by figures such as Pauline Hanson, who has a long history of anti-Indigenous rhetoric—systematically appropriate symbols of resistance to manufacture legitimacy. The song’s original context, shaped by Indigenous co-author Keith Potger and the 1967 Referendum, was one of **collective defiance against colonial erasure**, yet CPAC repurposed it to rally for a politics of division. This pattern is not unique to Australia; it echoes global trends where marginalised cultural symbols are stripped of their meaning to serve reactionary agendas, from **white supremacist appropriation of Black music** to **European far-right co-optation of folk traditions**. The absence of Indigenous and working-class voices in mainstream narratives further obscures the structural violence of this theft, reinforcing a false narrative of Australia as a ‘settler nation’ rather than a land of ongoing Indigenous sovereignty. To address this, systemic solutions must include **collective cultural ownership frameworks**, **mandatory sensitivity audits**, and **cross-cultural education**—measures that would restore agency to marginalised communities and disrupt the cycle of appropriation. The trickster lens, invoking figures like Hermes or Coyote, exposes the absurdity of CPAC’s hypocrisy, while the historical lens reveals how this incident is part of a longer struggle for cultural justice. Ultimately, this case demands not just legal remedies but a **fundamental rethinking of who owns culture** in a post-colonial, neoliberal world.