Publications, Research & Statistics

Australian Multiculturalism for a New Century: Towards Inclusiveness

2 Australian Multiculturalism: Towards Inclusiveness (continued)

A balance of rights and obligations

Australia’s democratic structures contain a balance of rights and obligations that apply equally to all 'citizens’.

This balance is exemplified by the acknowledgment in the 1989 National Agenda for a Multicultural Australia that 'the right to express one’s own culture and beliefs involves a reciprocal responsibility to accept the right of others to express their views and values’.

These rights are, of course, also subject to the rule of law.

In practice, however, the implementation of multicultural policy has tended to focus more on the dimensions (rights) than on the limits (obligations) defined in the National Agenda, and understandably so, because this was more consistent with the priorities of that time.

The Council believes that it is now appropriate to achieve a better balance by making it clear that Australia’s democratic system confers rights and imposes obligations.

In this regard multiculturalism simply draws upon and supports these principles of our democracy and seeks to ensure that the whole community accepts and understands that they apply equally to all Australians regardless of ethnic or cultural background.

In the Council’s view, if our cultural diversity is to be a unifying force, the continuation of positive multicultural policies and programs that place a balanced emphasis on both our rights and obligations is essential.

There is a need to give more prominence to the fact that all Australians have equal rights and equal obligations.

This includes the Australian tradition of a reciprocal obligation between 'citizens’ and Australian society that holds it to be fair for the community to provide safety net support for any Australian in times of need, while expecting all members of the community to support and contribute to Australia’s essential interests.

Question and answer #3
Does multiculturalism promote social harmony?

Australia is a free and democratic society which values its diversity.

Not only are our people racially and ethnically diverse, but we hold many different points of view on many and varied subjects.

This is our right, but there are limits to our freedom. We all have to abide by the law, and the core values and standards of our society.

Multiculturalism is concerned with the acceptance of difference and freedom in relationships between culturally diverse individuals and groups in our society, and with how our society meets the needs and derives benefits from the contribution of its culturally diverse 'citizens’.

It asks all Australians to positively accept that we are a very diverse society and, subject to the law, to recognise each other’s rights to choose how they wish to live.

Diversity is a positive force in our society. Forced assimilation or the suppression of diversity would be a certain recipe for disharmony.

Most people would agree that Australia, in all its diversity, is a cohesive, harmonious society. Multicultural strategies have been a significant contributing factor to this success, aiming to manage the consequences of this diversity in the interests of the individual and society as a whole.

This is how Australian multiculturalism promotes social harmony.

2.5 Multiculturalism and Australian culture

It is difficult to precisely define the culture of any nation and it is no easier to define Australian culture.

This is because culture is a composite of many ingredients and in any dynamic society is continually evolving. Also, the term 'culture’ has many meanings.

In its broadest sense, culture is often seen as a term that refers to the way of life of a society.

In this sense it is the structures and traditions of Australia’s democratic society, the customs and habits, the aspirations and values, and the individual and collective achievements of the Australian people, living within these democratic arrangements, that make up Australian culture.

The record of Australian multiculturalism demonstrates a long and abiding interest in these matters, although the link to Australia’s cultural traditions has not always been emphasised.

Australian society is built on the principles and institutions of our democracy and has been moulded by all the heritage of the past.

But it is now much more diverse than it was fifty or a hundred years ago.

Rather than being compromised by multiculturalism, it is broadened and enhanced and is the direct beneficiary of the diverse cultures that migrants have brought with them.

A strongly expressed view in some of the public submissions from respondents who claim 'Anglo’ or 'old Australia’ heritages is that multiculturalism is a negative and divisive feature of Australian society, creating disdain for people of Anglo-Celtic origins and denigrating Australian culture by promoting other cultures as more worthy.

They argue that this contributes to a general sense of unease and causes unacceptable levels of separateness in society.

While acknowledging that the assimilationist policies of the past asked too much of migrants, these respondents criticised multiculturalism for asking too much of Australian-born people and not enough of migrants.

The Council respects the people expressing these concerns but believes their views reflect an incorrect perception of multiculturalism, pointing to an important communication strategy priority.

Australian culture is dynamic. It starts with and retains its links to our total heritage, but is not a fossilised entity which remains static from the time a particular group sets foot on Australian soil.

Rather, it is a living, changing and interacting set of life patterns. It has been modified and enhanced by the arrival of many migrant groups. It continues to be developed by the evolution of ideas and customs within Australia and by global influences.

While the Australians of the 1890s would scarcely recognise many aspects of our society today, there is no doubt that they would still recognise the Australianness that has endured.

Importantly, we must recognise that we are not alone in this as all societies have been through changes over this period, and none have been unaffected by either the nature or rate of such change.

The Prime Minister, the Hon. John Howard MP, made a similar point in an interview in The Australia/Israel Review in May 1998:

Well, I think some people were offended by the suggestion that somehow or other we had no cultural identity until (we had) mass migration, postwar migration ... I think there’s the idea that, somehow or other, until we had multiculturalism and a lot of ethnic diversity we really had no identifiable national marks.

I take an evolutionary view. The character is constantly being remade in an evolutionary way over a period of time.

I mean, there are still traits that you can recognise that were present there 40 or 50 years ago but some of them less so things alter over a period of time and the identity is constantly evolving.

But I think some people felt uncomfortable with it because of that sense that we didn’t really have an identifiable character until this came on to the scene.

So I don’t really have any problem with what comprises multiculturalism, in fact I am very strongly supportive of it. Very strongly.

The freedom that our democracy guarantees gives space for the cultural diversity in Australian society, so it is our democracy and our expectation that 'citizens’ respect and adhere to its principles that are the key ingredients of a unifying Australian tradition which Australian multiculturalism retains.

This freedom includes the freedom to express and maintain one’s cultural and artistic preferences.

The Council does not, however, see cultural maintenance as something aimed at simply maintaining a cultural status quo. Rather, it supports the dynamic notion of cultural maintenance contained in the submission from the Australia Council:

Cultural maintenance is important for everyone It may well be that the meaning of 'maintenance’ has sometimes been misunderstood.

The Australia Council’s Arts for a Multicultural Australia policy principles state that: '

The Australia Council upholds and promotes the engagement of all Australians in cultural maintenance through the promotion and practice of the arts, and promotes broad definitions of cultural maintenance that are not restricted to the continuance of traditions, but include the development of new and evolving cultural practices’.

The Australia Council believes that culture is not static, but rather it is a continuum.

Therefore to think that 'maintaining’ culture simply means that it stays static and inevitably leads to ghettoism is too simplistic an assessment of the reality in Australian communities.

On this understanding, Australian culture, while continually growing by interactions of people through artistic and cultural activities, retains its link with Australia’s cultural heritage.

The Council therefore considers that Australian multiculturalism, far from denying Australian culture, is in fact one of its major achievements.

In turn, multiculturalism is an integral dimension of Australian culture and is helping to shape that culture.

With the above in mind, the Council recommends that any communication strategy highlights the positive and mutually supportive relationship between Australian culture and Australian multiculturalism.

Question and answer #4
Does multiculturalism mean that Australia no longer has its own identity?

No. Australia’s identity and culture is very complex, and this has always been the case.

There has never been an agreed definition of either, and there probably never will be.

Nonetheless, many people agree that it is accurate to describe Australian society as 'multicultural’ - although others prefer to describe us as 'multi-ethnic’ or 'multi-racial’.

Regardless of which description is used, the fact remains that it is the core values and principles of our democratic society that define the characteristic Australian identity of our society.

While Australian multiculturalism acknowledges that diversity is a fact of life, and supports policies allowing people the freedom to maintain ethnic identities, values and lifestyles, it insists that this must be done within an overarching framework of common laws and shared values and institutions.

English is our national language, and our legal and Parliamentary systems are largely British in origin.

Multiculturalism does not diminish, but arises out of, this inheritance.

In addition, Australian identity includes the influence and heritage of our indigenous people, as well as of migrants from all over the world.

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