National Agenda for a Multicultural Australia
Basic rights
In democratic societies an individual's rights are protected by law. One of the most important of these is the right to equality before the law. This is particularly important in societies comprised of people from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
All members of Australian society should be able to enjoy the basic right of freedom from discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion or culture.
This includes not only overt or conscious discrimination at the personal level, but also that unwitting systemic discrimination which occurs when cultural assumptions become embodied in society's established institutions and processes.
Equal employment opportunity and affirmative action requirements, for example, are a response to both the individual and systemic discrimination experienced by women, Aboriginal people and certain other groups in the labour market.
Many Australians are aware of these problems. According to the recent national survey of attitudes to multiculturalism, almost one quarter of Australians - and more than 40% of NESB immigrants who have arrived in Australia since 1981 - believe that job opportunities are worse for immigrants with similar education and experience than for Australian-born workers.
One-third of Australians think that immigrants receive worse treatment when renting a house or flat. And over 15% of NESB immigrants feel that they have suffered actual discrimination in seeking employment.
Multicultural policies seek to eliminate such discrimination. They aim to protect the rights of all members of society to enjoy their culture and language and to practise their religion - within the institutional framework of Australian law, parliamentary democracy, English as the national language and acceptable methods of conflict resolution.
Fundamentally, multiculturalism is about the rights of the individual - the right to equality of treatment; to be able to express one's identity; to be accepted as an Australian without having to assimilate to some stereotyped model of behaviour.
Multiculturalism is concerned to encourage all Australians, including those from nonAnglo-Celtic backgrounds, to share their diversity of cultures, rather than excluding one another or being forced into separate enclaves. it seeks to make it clear that colour or language, style of dress or mode of worship, are no indication of the degree of personal commitment to the future of our nation. Being an Australian has nothing to do with outward appearance.
Issues
Objectives
Achievements
National Agenda Initiatives
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