Multicultural Australia

I'm not sure whether it hit the headlines in the UK, but there was a bit of a storm in a teacup last week about a Saturday night tv show (called "Hey Hey it's Saturday" - the nauseating, suicide-inducing equivalent of  Noel's House Party) where some white men blacked up to do a Jackson Five send-up; it's reignited the old 'is Australia racist?' debate that comes up from time to time. Read Nick Bryant's blog if you're interested (see the link on the left). But it has coincided with work I've been doing this week on multiculturalism in Australia. Australia is proud of its multiculturalism - I would go as far to say that it should be one of its defining national characteristics - but it is interesting what the word means for different people. 

For many, it is simply reflected in the plethora of restaurants in the cities - multiculturalism means international cuisine. After the Asian noodle markets last night, this morning I went to an Italian cafe for coffee, had sushi for lunch from a Japanese take-away, and this evening Kit and I went to a cheap Thai place for dinner, followed by an Italian gelato in Kirribilli. That is what many believe to be 'mulitculturalism'. Multicultural Australia is very 'white' defined; inevitable, perhaps, given that white Australians are in the majority, but it is interesting listening to the language used: 'you are welcome in our country' presupposes a requirement of the outsider to assimilate to the dominant white [British] Australian culture - surrendering aspects of their own culture unless they are seen to be totally benign or beneficial to white Australia (food, for example). 

The European nation-states in the late nineteenth century were forged on the assumption of homogeneity - of language, culture, history and religion. Australia is no different, indeed more so given that the vast majority of Australians in 1901 were of British descent. Thus the definition of national identity involves the contrast with the 'other' - for white Australia, that generally means Asia. The first act of parliament of Australia after Federation in 1901 was the 'Restricted Immigration Act' - which excluded non whites. Australian foreign policy until after World War II was entirely guided by fears of Asia - mostly of Japan. The 'Dictation Test' was in use until 1958 - this was brought in following pressure by the British government, to whom the Japanese complained about the Australian approach, and which was a more subtle way of excluding non-whites from the country than overt denial on the basis of skin colour -though it was in practice exactly the same thing. The rules were a farce - in the early 1950s a famous Polish writer, who spoke 7 languages including English, was denied entry - the immigration officer could decide which European language to use in the test, so in this case he chose Scottish Gaelic. This was, unsurprisingly, not a language with which the writer was familiar. He successfully appealed: his complaint that Scottish Gaelic was not a recognised European language was upheld by the courts. 

The White Australia Policy was finally brought to an end by the Labor Whitlam Government in 1973; arguably driven by economic need as well as it being morally indefensible (the British weren't coming in sufficient numbers, and the other main European source - Italy - was also drying up). Japan replaced Britain and the US as Australia's main source for export in this period. But there remains a longer lasting legacy - Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party were briefly successful in harnessing perennial fears in certain quarters of the 'Asian invasion' and the loss of the dominant Anglo-Australian culture.

There were serious race riots in Cronulla, in the south of Sydney, in 2005 - sparked by an attack by some Lebanese Australians on two beach lifeguards - the symbols of the modern (white male) Australian hero and 'descendent' of the ANZAC hero of Gallipoli. Lebanese-Australians had allegedly also told white-Australian women they should 'cover-up' on the beach and not wear bikinis. There was a massive backlash against the Lebanese community, much of it fuelled by radio talk show hosts and infiltrated by small white-supremacist groups, seeking to 'reclaim the beach'. The events remain important in the debates about the merits of multiculturalism, its success and its limits, and the tacit expectation that non-white Australians should to some degree assimilate to the prevailing white-Australian culture. Ironically, of course, all white Australians are descended from immigrants. And ironic too, that Aborigines are often not part of the multicultural debate. Is Australia more racist than other western countries? I don't think so - it has its own unique issues of race and racism that are specific to its demographic. Given its huge ethnic and cultural diversity (achieved over a very short period of time) I would say that, despite the problems and issues that need to be addressed, it is not doing too badly.