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?