Aussies risk becoming bludgers, warns Murdoch

Australians have never forgiven Rupert Murdoch for renouncing his citizenship in order to get rich in the United States. So they were not exactly ecstatic to be warned by him, during a flying visit this week to the country Mr Murdoch still claims to call home, that they risk turning into a nation of "bludgers".

Mr Murdoch's choice of language – in a lecture to a distinguished audience at the Sydney Opera House – seemed designed to wound. A bludger is someone who doesn't pull their weight, or pay their share. It can mean a person who fails to buy their round of drinks – and in Australia, there are few worse crimes.

The billionaire media mogul, whose Australian newspapers represent a small but profitable corner of his global empire, was decrying what he perceives as the country's increasing dependence on welfare. "We must avoid institutionalising idleness," he declared. "The bludger should not be our national icon."

While "dole bludgers" are not popular in Australia, where many people actually work hard, Mr Murdoch's criticism seemed likely to backfire. Who does this mega-rich bloke think he is, coming over here and telling us how to run our country, a place he turned his back on years ago, was a widely expressed view yesterday.

Mr Murdoch, of course, did not get where he is today by "bludging". And it was in Australia, as a young man, that he first displayed the qualities that marked him out as the very antithesis of a bludger. Bequeathed the Adelaide News by his father, Sir Keith, he quickly built up a large stable of Australian newspapers, before going off to conquer the world.

He still owns one of only two national newspapers, The Australian, as well as a daily tabloid in every capital city bar Perth. His papers are enormously influential. They tell people what to think and how to vote. And their proprietor doesn't even live here.

In Australia, he is both loathed and looked up to. Loathed, for all the usual reasons, but above all because he tore up his passport in 1985 to become a US citizen and acquire television stations there. Looked up to, because he is a colossus on the world stage, and Australians – with the possible exception of bludgers – are still afflicted by the inferiority complex known as the "cultural cringe".

Mr Murdoch, who is based in New York, visits Australia intermittently to catch up with family (his elder son, Lachlan, lives in Sydney), as well as shareholders, managers and staff. He owns a giant cattle ranch near Canberra, where he stays and entertains VIPs.

In his Sydney lecture, in which he urged Australia to revive its frontier spirit in order to meet the challenges of the global economy, he seemed to anticipate the criticism he has sparked. "I appreciate that many Australians will debate whether I still have the right to call myself one of you," he said.

"I was born in Melbourne, I was educated in Britain and now make my home in Manhattan. My answer is that people can call me whatever they like – and believe me when I tell you, they do. But this country means a great deal to me."