Multiculturalism In Australia

“As a community, we have become so focused on defining our differences that we have forgotten about the power we have if we work as a collective.” (Nada Kalam, 2017). Many people all around the world experience different levels of racism on a daily basis. Most people say that Australia is lucky to have escaped this problem, but this isn’t the case as racism is still an issue in today’s society. This racism is brought on by cultural ignorance and lack of education. Racism in Australia is not just a social problem, it is also institutionalised. In contradiction to the idea Australia is a multicultural and diverse nation, racism is deeply embedded into the country 's culture and identity, and this can be seen through multiple texts, which are both

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics “almost a quarter of Australia’s population was born overseas and [almost half] of people have at least one overseas-born parent.” But, the 2011 national census indicated that “the United Kingdom is the leading country of birth for the overseas-born population” and according to the Huffington Post: “approximately 92 percent of Australia’s inhabitants are of white, European descent.” Of course this white settlement dating back to the late 1700’s has constructed the stereotypical Australian identity, usually thought of as the Anglo-Saxon Australia. The Australian Government Department of Social Services defines Australian multiculturalism as “the way Australians address the challenges and opportunities of cultural diversity. It is a term which recognises and celebrates this diversity.” But Australia does not follow this definition of multiculturalism. Instead of celebrating and accepting diversity, at best, it is only tolerated. An example of this is the White Australia Policy, a series of policies that prevented non-European people from entering Australia from as far back as 1901 with the introduction of the Immigration Restriction Act 1901. It took until 1973 for these policies to be completely abolished. Racism, not multiculturalism has been embedded into our nation’s identity

An example of this is the movie The Sapphires (2012); a movie about four indigenous Australian women who are discovered by a talent scout, and sing for Australian troops in Vietnam during the war. It is no argument that Indigenous Australians have experiences a tremendous amount of racism and oppression in the past 250 years, and this is shown explicitly in the movie. From the insensitive remarks such as: “can you do it blacker?” to “you’re black, and you’re singing country and western music. It’s just wrong.” A much darker and implicit example of racism is the fact that Kay was taken away by the government to assimilate into white Australia due to her lighter skin tone, relating back to the Stolen Generations. These examples show that racism is not just a contemporary issue, but an issue that has been embedded into the nation’s culture for much of its history, as this movie was based on a true