McMahon addresses the 'geopolitics of Australian place' as seen through debates relating to border control and asylum seekers. She writes, 'In the specific context of literary studies, traditions and habits of represenation have been reframed by the evident potency and resonance of a rhetoric of belonging and insularity that has been harnessed to great effect. Galvanised by the press of contemporary politics, this essay will seek to identify and analyse the operations of this rhetoric, focusing on the condensed and contradictory status of Australia as an island continent.'
Mcmahon's analysis includes some reference to Robert Gray's 'Malthusian Island', Randolph Stow's To the Islands and Patrick White's Voss.
