Shared values key to success of multiculturalism

Multiculturalism is a nuanced topic (“Multicultural wrecking ball to team Australia”, 27/2). I think most Australians, myself included, don’t mind a modest and healthy form of multiculturalism provided it’s consistent with our Western values and newcomers’ primary emphasis is on integrating into Australian culture. However, some curious questions remain.

Why does multiculturalism need to be some kind of formal policy instead of something that could happen organically? Were Australians ever asked if our nation should adopt multiculturalism as policy? If not, why wasn’t formal consent sought from the public for a policy that has the potential to change the underlying character of our country? Why is having a mature balanced discussion on multiculturalism considered so taboo? And why does it seem to be only in Western countries that it is considered a moral imperative to become multicultural?

Michael Westacott, Woree, Qld

Australia is better described as a multiethnic, not multicultural, society. Successful integration of migrants of different ethnic backgrounds is based on sharing the same cultural values, typically (though not always) Judeo-Christian. In contrast, multiculturalism rejects the notion that shared cultural values are foundational, and believes that fundamentally incompatible cultures can somehow peacefully coexist. Europe’s experience shows that radical Islamism is simply incompatible with either Judeo-Christian or secular societies. Diversity is not a strength: it has become a critical weakness.

David Reimers, Aldgate, SA

History teaches us that we learn nothing from history. Peta Credlin on multiculturalism takes us straight back to historian Geoffrey Blainey writing in the 1980s. He noted that public opinion polling in the 1950s revealed that opposition to non-British immigration outnumbered the opposite opinion by 30 per cent. By the 1980s he broadened the debate by arguing that immigration of people without a democratic heritage would undermine democracy in Australia. And now a large number of those immigrants have just been granted a vote for the coming election via rushed and contrived mass citizenship ceremonies.

Suzanne Blumer, Wembley, SA

Peta Credlin’s insightful view of developments in society reminded me that the “Bring out a Briton” program in the early 1960s brought out some individuals who didn’t come to adapt and expected home features when they weren’t available. Fortunately the “whingeing Poms” were a minority and relatively inoffensive, and the idea of starting a “Send back a Briton” movement faded. Now, while most immigrants are positive contributors to our ethos and strength, we now have serious religious forces intruding on our cohesion. This has developed to a stage where government actions appear to be determined by the views of concentrations of people in some districts sufficient to determine electoral results.

An added complication has arisen where criminals cannot be deported back to their home country. Decisive action is needed to deal with this issue. We need a commitment to tolerance and acceptance of other values to be a condition of entry into our country, enforced when necessary by cancellation of citizenship and deportation. Public service must also be scrupulously objective.

Ken Dredge, Camp Hill, Qld

Peta Credlin acknowledges that the vast majority of immigrants see Australia as offering them and their children a better life and are willing to accept Australian values with loyal adherence. She is, however, right to criticise more recent handling of immigration intakes, implemented on many occasions without adequate vetting. As a result, we now have in our community many whose primary loyalty lies not with Australia but elsewhere.

This has greatly contributed to the current toxic combination of anti-Semitism, woke ideology and poor and deficient education. Diversity, equity and inclusion imperatives impact our society by fostering unconscious bias, microaggressions, and a lack of accountability. Similarly, the leftist practice of dividing the world, through a distorting lens, into colonisers and colonised, helped to drive the virulent spread of anti-Semitism.

Alan Franklin, St Ives, NSW