Migrants warned to adopt Australian values

THE Citizenship Minister believes Australian values are under threat and the country’s current social cohesion situation is “far from perfect”, urging immigrants to blend in and mix with the local community.

AUSTRALIAN values are under threat from ethnic segregation, Citizenship Minister Alan Tudge will today say in a major speech in London on “social cohesion”.

The federal minister will also warn immigrants “must blend into the fabric of our ­nation” and can’t expect to bring “their entire practices, language and culture … with little expectation placed upon them to share or mix with the local community”.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal Mr Tudge — who points out more than 28 per cent of Australians are born overseas — will also say the current situation is “far from perfect”.

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“Some of the challenges to social cohesion that we are facing today are similar to ones that the UK is facing — such as ethnic segregation and liberal values being challenged,” his speech will say. Mr Tudge says Australia’s model was “integrated multiculturalism” not “assimilationist model, where people must leave their heritage behind”.

Human Services Minister Alan Tudge wife Teri and their new born son Richard. Picture: Eugene Hyland

“We don’t want or expect that, but of course where there are conflicts in cultural behaviours, Australian law and values must prevail,” he said.

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The junior Home Affairs minister said Australia’s “relative success” in ensuring social cohesion despite high, diverse immigration was “careful immigrant selection” along with an “insistence on immigrant integration”. “Careful immigration selection means that we choose who comes into the nation. We don’t outsource this choice to people smugglers,” he said.

Mr Tudge was one of the few Turnbull government MPs to support NSW Labor leader Luke Foley in the fallout of his comments that an influx of refugees had caused “white flight” from Sydney’s west.

While saying he was disappointed with the use of words, he said the challenges raised by Mr Foley were “real”.

“We are arguably the most successful multicultural nation in the world. But there are indicators today that we are not doing as well as we once did,” he said at the time.

“We need to be honest in facing up to these issues.”

Originally published as Migrants warned to adopt Australian values