Research question: In whose interests is the current Australian version of citizenship education working? Based on an analysis of the ways in which approaches to citizenship education are presented in Australia, this paper will argue that the main political thrust of the citizenship education program is one of reviving national allegiance in ways which are consistent with the neo-liberal conservative agenda but which work against the sort of global citizenship seen by many as increasingly desirable in the present times. The paper traces the current drive for citizenship education in terms of its socio-political history, origins that are reflected in its associated texts and applications. The curricula and pedagogy prescribed have been critiqued in terms of their lack of engagement with the idea of children-as-citizens and their limited capacity for involving young people in a grounded approach to this area of study. The main concern with the education package is its reactionary nature as revealed in a pre-occupation with a re-instalment of older notions of country, of brave pioneers and settlers, of military history and sporting triumphs, all of which draw on a very different image of the population from the current one. Thus they constitute a 'national imaginary' (Said, 1994; Anderson, 1980) that bears little relationship to the actual mix of peoples in contemporary Australia. Australia in the 21st century can no longer be seen as a curiously white and distant offshoot of an earlier Britain. Rather it comprises a multicultural mix of peoples who have brought with them stories and cultural practices that have become variously inflected into mainstream local culture. Global issues such as climate change, nuclear waste, refugees and world markets demand attention. Primary school children learn about ways of conserving water and saving the planet, sustaining the natural environment. In a sense they are already world citizens. However the direction of the official curriculum package appears inscribe a national affiliation at the expense of a broader world view. While we do not seek to produce young people without ties to local community and area, and indeed state and nation, we are concerned that the current take on citizenship education may serve to resurrect the sort of blind nationalism that lay behind several national and global disasters of the previous century. Not only does this appear as singularly inappropriate for contemporary Australia but also exceedingly dangerous. Documentary analysis of curriculum materials and policy statements plus qualitative investigation with children Current Australian citizenship education is framed as an exercise to build national allegiance but the picture of nation is dated and reactionary and the possibilities for global democratic citizenship are limited.Anderson Benedict (1993): Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. New York, Verso. Gill Judith and Sue Howard (forthcoming 2007) : Gaps in the record: Working with curriculum and young people's imagined Australias. Curriculum Perspectives. Gill Judith (2006) "And from all the lands we come" : Challenges to democratic citizenship education in contemporary Australia. Paper presented at the European Conference of Educational Research (ECER). Geneva.Gill Judith and Sue Howard, 2006: Revisioning the social: Young Australians and the rural/urban divide. Citizenship Teaching and Learning. Vol 2, No 1 pp 66-78. Howard S and Gill J (2005): Learning to belong: Children talk about feeling 'Australian'. Childrenz Issues, Journal of the Children's issues Centre, Vol 9 #2 pp 43-49 Howard Sue and Gill Judith (2003): Somewhere to call home? Schooling and a sense of place and belonging in an increasingly globalised world. In Colin Marsh (ed) ACSA 20-20 Vision: Capturing Curriculum debate in Australia. ACSA Press. Said Edward (1979) Orientalism New York, Pantheon of Citizenship education