The list includes "political correctness", "cancel culture", "identity politics", "woke", "culture wars" and "weaponising". They are not used in a neutral fashion, but to denigrate the views and opinions of other people.

Over the past 30 years their use has grown so that some of these terms, like political correctness, have become standard and in general use in wider society. Most of them are not traditional Australian terminology, but have come straight from the United States. Our language has been corrupted by terms which have grown out of different social conditions and are then applied without thought to quite different Australian circumstances.

The use of these terms is lazy shorthand, but it also often serves the political purpose of shutting down conversation and trying to undermine alternative points of view.

A term currently in great favour on the conservative side of politics is "identity politics", defined as a political approach wherein people of a particular gender, religion, race, social background or class develop political agendas to advantage themselves by calling attention to their systemic disadvantage. Scott Morrison condemns identity politics, just as John Howard did before him. They see it as a modern disease, a trick to advantage some social groups over others. They advocate an approach based on individual rather than group characteristics.

Howard and Morrison may see it as demonstrating a traditional distinction between the two sides of Australian politics (individualism versus collectivism), but identity politics language has been widely used by conservatives as well as progressives. Menzies' famous appeal to the "forgotten people" of the middle class was identity politics, just as was the approach of the rural politicians who formed the Country Party (now the Nationals) to advocate the cause of those suffering systemic disadvantage because they lived in rural and regional areas.

The only difference now is that identity politics is being utilised by other groups which perceive that they are subject to ingrained social disadvantage, including women, Indigenous Australians, and the LGBTIQ+ community.

Political correctness (PC) is a related but older term, defined as an approach chosen to avoid offence to members of particular groups, on the basis of their race, gender and/or sexuality. Critics condemn so-called political correctness as an unreasonable limit on their freedom of speech, preventing them using certain language in public.

The reality is that the use of inclusive language and the avoidance of hate speech and derogatory terms is both sensible and essential for inclusion and equality in modern society. Offence is real, not imaginary, and those sensitive to the legitimate feelings of others should keep their language within bounds.

Political correctness has now been replaced by the term "woke". If you have caught up with the new term (there is a generational lag) you will know that it is now used not a compliment but as a putdown, just like PC. Woke, which is of African-American origin, is defined as an awareness of issues that concern social and racial justice, in particular. Critics use it to criticise someone perceived to have an over-awareness of such issues.

Even the Australian military is now accused by ministerial critics of being woke, meaning allegedly too soft, compassionate or inclusive.

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Such an alleged over-awareness may feed into alleged "cancelling", in which individuals, such as speakers and writers, are refused a platform - in more traditional language, censored or blackballed. They have invitations to speak or even contracts to publish withdrawn. Supposed examples are highlighted and described as part of "cancel culture". This too, like PC, is described as a threat to free speech.

Such cancelling is also said to describe moves to change street names or remove statues of individuals who in their time clearly offended against contemporary standards. Battles have been fought in Canberra over individuals such as Sir William Slim and Field Marshal Douglas Haig, and much more significantly in the United States over Civil War personalities.

The politics of language is part of cultural conflict within any society. Whoever wins the language war is on their way to winning the larger war about the dominance of some individuals and groups over others and the distribution of economic benefits within the society. This makes the politics of language extremely important. These terms are mainly used to delegitimise the concerns of certain groups and the legitimacy of certain attitudes. Such groups and attitudes are mainly to be found on the left.

Such cultural conflict is an inevitable part of any society, and Australia is no exception. But we should fight it in the open, using language which we all understand, not imported terms which disguise what is going on.

Australian debate can do without each of these terms. Nothing is gained by allegations of identity politics, political correctness, wokeness and/or cancel culture.

When criticisms and allegations are made in language which is plain-speaking, then the particular matter in dispute, such as refugees, racism, gender, freedom of speech, poverty or vulnerability, can be debated on its merits.