Australian Multiculturalism for a New Century: Towards Inclusiveness
1 Evolution of multicultural policy (continued)
1.2 Policy evolution
Multiculturalism
By 1973, the term 'multiculturalism’ had been introduced.
The term originated in Canada, where it referred to the 1971 Trudeau Government’s official programs of cultural maintenance.
The official Canadian policy was called 'multiculturalism within a bilingual framework’, and arose in response to the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, 1963-1969.
The Australian origins of the public policy of multiculturalism are quite different from Canada’s.
They are found in a range of critiques of Australian society in the late 1960s and early 1970s that were concerned with issues of equity.
Prominent among these was Professor Ronald Henderson’s poverty survey in 1970.
Several universities also conducted studies at this time that highlighted social equity problems, including those facing migrants.
The work of Jerzy Zubrzycki at the Australian National University and Jean Martin at La Trobe University was particularly significant in this early period.
The influence of Sir Peter Heydon, then Secretary of the Department of Immigration, was also crucial to the early evolution of multiculturalism.
In May 1973 Immigration Minister Al Grassby embraced cultural diversity, saying:
First, we must strengthen and develop the things which unite us as a community and as a nation.
We must also identify, isolate and overcome those things which could divide us. This in no sense involves abandonment of the past.
Rather we should seek to share our different heritages ... We have been a nation of exiles in our own land - all of us - for too long. It is time for the people of Australia to come home in a spiritual sense, to feel truly that we belong to this land, to see it as a heritage to be preserved and enhanced.
It is my hope and purpose to see a strong and united Australian nation, a nation drawing upon the rich diversity of its people and its own unique resources to create a new sense of national unity and purpose.
This is the time for decisive action. This is the decade in which we must make effective the concept of a family of the nation strong in its diversity.
In October 1975 the then Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, and Leader of the Opposition, Malcolm Fraser, made speeches demonstrating for the first time that multiculturalism was becoming a major political priority on both sides of politics.
At a ceremony proclaiming the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, Mr Whitlam referred to Australia as a 'multicultural nation’, and Mr Fraser said in a speech to a Greek community ball: 'We ... are committed to encouraging and supporting diversity in our multicultural society’.
In August 1977, the first formal public policy of Australian multiculturalism was defined in the Australia as a Multicultural Society report by the Australian Ethnic Affairs Council (Chairman: J Zubrzycki - see Appendix C for further details).
In November 1981 Prime Minister Fraser described the underlying principles and approach to multiculturalism as:
Multiculturalism is about diversity, not division - it is about direction, not isolation.
It is about cultural and ethnic difference, set within a framework of shared fundamental values which enable them to coexist on a complementary rather than a competitive basis.
It involves respect for the law and for our democratic institutions and processes.
Insisting on a core area of common values is no threat to multiculturalism but its guarantee, for it provides the minimal conditions on which the wellbeing of all is seated.
Not least, multiculturalism is about equality of opportunity for the members of all groups to participate in and benefit from Australia’s social, economic and political life.
This concern with equality of opportunity is dictated by both morality and hard-nosed realism. I am talking about basic human rights ... No society can long retain a commitment and involvement of groups that are denied these rights.
From these beginnings, the adjective 'multicultural’ has been increasingly used to describe the cultural and ethnic diversity of contemporary Australia.
The noun 'multiculturalism’ has been used to describe our positive acceptance of the reality and significance of our cultural diversity and the proactive approach to addressing the challenges and opportunities arising from it.
Multiculturalism continues the strong emphasis of previous policies on social harmony but recognises and positively accepts that Australia is, and will remain, a culturally diverse country; and it offers a set of guidelines for enhancing social harmony.
It seeks to ensure that the diversity is a positive force in our society and recognises that the absorption of newly arrived people into the Australian community necessarily involves all sectors of the community making some adjustments.
There are many aspects of the Australian way of life that newcomers are required to accept.
These include the law, our democratic form of government, and English as the national language.
But, equally, Australian multiculturalism recognises that many migrants and their children will choose to retain many of their customs and cultural traditions, some of which will be adopted by other Australians.
In other words, the inclusion and participation of migrants and their descendants in Australian life occurs naturally and, within the bounds of our democratic and legal framework, the individual whether migrant or Australian-born must be free to choose which customs to retain and which to adopt.
Settlement and multicultural strategies
The evolution over the past fifty years in migrant selection and settlement strategies has had a profound impact on Australian society.
The receiving community has progressively become more and more diverse and the need for strategies to address the issues raised by this diversity has become more and more apparent.
In recent decades these strategies, along with the settlement strategies, have both been called multiculturalism.
It is evident from submissions received by the Council that this duality is causing some confusion in the minds of people and is responsible for some of the negative feelings about multiculturalism.
The Council firmly believes, therefore, that it is now appropriate to draw a clear conceptual distinction between settlement and multicultural strategies.
While the former are a consequence of immigration, the latter embrace issues that arise from our cultural diversity irrespective of the size or nature of our immigration program.
It is certainly true that settlement services are quite consistent with the overall principles of multiculturalism, and the Council fully endorses the continuation of Commonwealth-funded settlement programs which should take into account the cultural diversity that has resulted from our non-discriminatory immigration program.
They are designed to meet the needs of recently arrived migrants, regardless of source country, to enable them to participate fully in our society.
This includes the need to find somewhere to live, find employment, engage in business, learn to speak and read English if they do not already, and enrol their children in school.
Settlement programs also help migrants to find out about their new environment - what is expected of them, what services are available, how the government and community operates.
Settlement programs are only available to eligible migrants. These programs are deliberately and appropriately selective - just as industry assistance programs are available only to selected industries or even firms within an industry, drought relief is available only to farmers, indigenous programs are only for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and so on - but the benefits eventually flow to the entire community.
Australia is, and will always be, a multicultural society, irrespective of our future immigration intake.
The special needs and opportunities presented by this ongoing cultural diversity will continue to require the proactive strategies, policies and programs that are appropriately attributed to multiculturalism.
The Council therefore considers it to be essential that multiculturalism continues to be developed as an important and distinct priority, in addition to the continuation of settlement programs designed to accommodate the settlement requirements of new migrants.
Refugee resettlement
An important component of Australia’s immigrant population has entered under the humanitarian program.
This is the program in which Australia accepts refugees and other people who have suffered human rights abuse, and have often left their homes and countries.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the international agency charged with protecting refugees, identifies people for whom resettlement may be the only appropriate solution to their plight.
Through the humanitarian program, Australia is committed to playing a compassionate role in providing assistance to refugees and other victims of human rights abuses worldwide.
Australia has the proud record of having one of the highest per capita refugee resettlement programs in the world. Because the location of crises which result in people becoming refugees can occur anywhere in the world, our humanitarian program contributes further to the cultural diversity of Australia.
The Council strongly endorses Australia’s generous and compassionate acceptance of refugees and believes this should continue as a moral responsibility and on a non-discriminatory basis.
It also welcomes the appointment of the Refugee Resettlement Advisory Council (RRAC) in the Immigration and Multicultural Affairs portfolio. The Council initiated discussions with RRAC and has a productive working relationship with it.
Key immigration, settlement and multicultural reports
Successive Commonwealth governments have commissioned numerous reports over the past twenty-five years to advise on immigration, settlement and multicultural strategies.
While the specifics of the reports vary considerably, they all address essentially similar broad issues: the settlement needs of migrants; and the social and economic consequences of cultural diversity in Australia.
The Council considers these same broad issues to be relevant today, and for the foreseeable future.
A brief summary of a number of the most significant of these reports is at Appendix C.
1989 National Agenda for a Multicultural Australia
The 1989 National Agenda for a Multicultural Australia is a landmark report in Australia’s response to issues raised by the rapid increase in cultural diversity resulting from the arrival of large numbers of migrants from all over the world.
Building on the work that preceded it, the National Agenda established the existing policy framework and has had bipartisan political support since its release and, based on the public submissions received by the Council, retains a high degree of public support today.
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