Whatever happened to those basic Aussie traditions of the fair go, the ridgy-didge, the swagman’s chunder? Can we ever hope to return to those fair dinkum ways of old, in this world gone troppo? Or have they carked it, never to return?

Some may treasure the myth of a lost civilisation of mateship and larrikinism, of diggers and squatters sharing damper over a barbie (or something). But only a fool would dare dream of making that myth a reality. Unfortunately, one such fool is the prime minister, and his madcap schemes are backed by the armed might of the Border Force.

Like a demented Roman emperor, pinning medals on his horse and executing his advisers, Abbott has increasingly retreated into a world of personal fantasy backed by extreme violence, as he ricochets from one leadership challenge to another. Now 12,000 Syrian refugees will be the subjects of the state’s experiments in make-believe.

Life in Australia is a 46-page document produced by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. All those Syrians resettled by the government will be required to read it, absorb it and declare that they agree with it, if they hope to cross the borders of Fortress Australia.

It does contain some useful information about the Australian way of life: for example, that “clothing is an individual choice”, but it is forbidden to kill your neighbour’s pets; that “bloke” means “man” and “fortnight” means “a period of two weeks”. But most striking and perplexing is the lengthy statement of “Australian values and principles”, the moral code that purportedly serves as “the basis for our free and democratic society”.

The Border Force Act, which threatens jail for anyone who reveals the systematic abuse of asylum seekers detained offshore, is to be reconciled with the pronouncement that “speaking freely and openly” is one of 10 “fundamental freedoms” of Australian society.

As Abbott confirms the bombing of their homeland, doubles down on his commitment to torture camps and deportation of “queue-jumpers” and unveils his new black-clad immigration police, Syrians will be required to affirm their belief that “Australians reject the use of violence, intimidation or humiliation as ways of settling conflict”.

The government’s policy of systematically de-prioritising Muslim refugees may cause some confusion to those refugees led to believe that “Australian society values equality of opportunity for individuals, regardless of their race, religion or ethnic background”.

The inclusion of “peacefulness” as an underpinning of Australian society might account for why, in its summary of Australian history, the document notes only that “the Indigenous population declined dramatically during the 19th and early 20th century”, without speculating as to any potential causes of this decline.

The document does, however, find room to mention variations on “mateship” roughly once every two pages, including an excursus on the mysteries of “practical mateship”.

Still, while Abbott is spruiking it anew, Life in Australia was actually introduced by the Rudd Labor government. For nearly a decade, just like mandatory detention, offshore processing and the Border Force Act, this ritual hypocrisy has been bipartisan.

It might be too much to expect refugees to be asked to sign a statement informing them that they are settling in a country built on genocide, ringed by torture camps, riven with inequality and riddled with state violence.

But in its own way, Life in Australia will teach refugees a crucial Australian value.

No refugee running the gauntlet of Australia’s migration system will fail to recognise the officially sanctioned racism and brutality of the state.

Life in Australia teaches all those who settle here that our “free and democratic society” is also built on a foundation of bullshit, slathered with treacly sanctimony and fortified with industrial-strength hypocrisy.