When Malcolm Turnbull was pondering the make-up of his new front bench, I suggested he could do far worse than give Petro Georgiou a position, particularly in areas dealing with immigration or multiculturalism. I wasn’t surprised that this didn’t happen, but this article by Mr Georgiou in The Age last week shows why he would have been well suited.
He expressed concern that “in the past decade, at the national political level, we regressed in our acceptance of social diversity” and outlined “the logic of the policy of multiculturalism”:
The overall integration of people from different nationalities is evidence of the success of a multicultural policy that was about greater choice rather than coercion.
Georgiou noted that “the Rudd Government’s position on multiculturalism is also opaque and the Opposition has yet to define its policy.”
Not surprisingly, he gave his own prescription:
It’s time for a reaffirmation by our political leaders of a commitment to multiculturalism. At the policy level, stronger action is necessary to realise the aim of equality of opportunity for all, an aim to which successive governments of all major parties have been committed. I believe that the Government should establish an independent statutory body to research and advise on issues of multiculturalism and migrants and refugees. It should report directly to the Prime Minister.
I saw the Coalition’s new shadow immigration minister. Dr Sharman Stone, speak last week at a conference of the Migration Institute of Australia. She has only held the position for a few weeks, and her party’s Leader is equally new to the top job, so it is too early to expect a whole fresh policy approach to have emerged. Even though Dr Stone’s speech was fairly light on detail, there was nothing in it which was particularly inconsistent with what Petro Georgiou is calling for.
She indicated her regional electorate of Murray was amongst the most ethincally diverse non-metropolitan area in the nation and was very clear that many regional areas needed continuing skilled and semi-skilled migration. She also gave her support for not reducing the current level of our refugee and humanitarian program.
While Labor’s Immigration Minister Chris Evans has been getting started on the major task of modernising and improving our migration laws and systems, and there a few positive early signs, I haven’t seen much of an indication at Prime Ministerial level about a wider commitment to revitalising and fulfiling the potential of our country’s cultural diversity. Malcolm Turnbull could do worse than having a chat to the very experienced and practical Petro Georgiou. It is a key area where the Coalition can show it has moved on from the Howard era.
PS: You can read the full speech that Petro Georgiou’s article was based on at the Australians All website.
One Comment
There is an underlying fear out in the community that seems to emerge when the word ‘multiculturalism’ is used. The nature of the fear doesn’t seem to be well defined but I am attempting to understand what perceived threat is at the core of it so that we can properly address the problem from both sides. There is a lot of talk about protecting “our Australian way of life” but little to define what that means. Integration should not mean totally giving up your heritage and love of your country of birth but it should mean a commitment to our shared values of freedom and fairness and equality. Ironically these values seem to be somewhat lacking in society. Don’t get me wrong. I would expect immigrants to make an effort to study the language and customs and try to adapt as much as is practical. But we all have the right to speak whatever language we want (manners permitting), eat whatever we want and wear pretty much whatever we want. With the shoe on the other foot, ex-patriot Australians living overseas are often criticised by us at home if they so much as lose their accents! A recent shortage of Vegemite in Hong Kong was reported in the press as a “crisis” and resulted in an influx of unofficial imports being smuggled in with visiting rellies! Walk a mile in my moccasins/flip-flops/jandals/thongs eh? A book worth reading (or seeing the film); “Theyre a Weird Mob” by Nino Cullotta (aka John O’Grady)