An overdue vision for multicultural Australia

The Australian Government has just released the Multicultural Framework Review report  ‘Towards Fairness: A Multicultural Australia for All’. 

The report, produced by an independent panel, urges proactive steps to build Australian multiculturalism, including the establishment of a Multicultural Affairs Commission and standalone government department, investment in language services, and improvements in multicultural grants programs.

The government seems to have accepted the key recommendations which comes after a long period of policy apathy in the multicultural space.

 The review foregrounds the most difficult issue for a settler-colonial nation like Australia, made up of hundreds of different ethnic and religious backgrounds and transnational diasporas:  how does it hang together? What guiding principles, shared values and common practices should be encouraged? How exactly do we do that successfully together?

In the wake of the European invasions, a watered-down version of social cohesion was enforced through assimilation and identification with a primary British heritage. This amounted to government-sanctioned suppression of the cultural expression of almost everyone outside that White “charter group”: among them First Nations peoples, Jews, and Muslims .

Then, 50 years ago the White Australia policy was rejected, and a social movement emerged that celebrated cultural diversity, inter-communal tolerance, and a commitment to mutual respect and recognition. Its first advocate was a fiery politician of Irish and Spanish heritage, Al Grassby, and he was supported by a network of activists from many of those marginalised or excluded communities, including Jews and Muslims. The demands of the day were for social justice and human rights.  They asked for cultural recognition and social inclusion and equity.