Multicultural issues may not decide the election. But the multicultural voting makeup of many marginal electorates will play a critical part in who wins these seats.
Clashes over the building of a mosque in Bendigo are a reminder of how easily strong public feelings about immigration can be exploited.
AAP/Brendan McCarthy
Australians need to have a broad conversation about immigration. This must go beyond border security to discuss immigration’s broad functions, social impacts and the national interests it serves.
Universities expose students to difference, providing them with a unique opportunity to learn from others.
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Malcolm Turnbull’s tears have drawn attention to harsh truths about the loss of Indigenous culture. As a nation we should embrace Indigenous languages.
Something seems to be missing in the Australian art world.
French Street theatre company performing at the Santiago a Mil International Theatre Festival - Ivan Alvarado/Reuters
Ien Ang, Western Sydney University e Phillip Mar, Western Sydney University
Diversity is a vital part of a thriving art sector, yet only 8% of professional Australian artists come from a non-English speaking background. How can we beat “diversity fatigue”?
China’s Confucius Institutes given foreigners a chance to learn more about the country. Africa must be careful that its universities’ partnerships with Confucius Institutes don’t create dependency.
What distinguishes Australia is the extraordinary extent to which people of different cultural backgrounds work, play and form families together.
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The story of Australia’s multicultural future needs to be informed by an understanding of the past. Those who do not know history’s mistakes are doomed to repeat them.
Recent federal governments have not had the courage to draft, debate, test and pass legislation asserting and implementing Australian multiculturalism.
AAP/Richard Ashen
Mainstream Australia isn’t allowed to define multicultural priorities, as the policy has no legislative legitimacy.
Harmony Day is part of efforts in Australia to promote social cohesion, which showed a marked improvement in 2015, according to the Scanlon Foundation survey.
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Despite perceptions of a divided and troubled nation, social cohesion in Australia actually improved on most measures in 2015, the latest Scanlon Foundation survey finds.
Geert Wilders’ attacks on Islam rehash centuries-old Western Islamophobic slogans.
Reuters/Fabrizio Bensch
The shift to Immigration and Border Protection – and the creation of the Australian Border Force – is the most profound change in the Department of Immigration’s history.
The increasing obsession with ‘border security’ has conspired to erode the nation-building objectives of Australian immigration policy.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Australia should learn from the UK’s mistakes if taking a leaf out of its book on citizenship reform.
Zaky Mallah argued that the government’s policies play into the hands of ‘recruitment propaganda’ designed to appeal to alienated young Muslims.
ABC TV
It is important that we do not entirely dismiss Zaky Mallah’s comments on Q&A. He sheds light on a seductive mechanism for young Muslims that is real.
Xhosa women celebrate in Qunu in the Eastern Cape. It is time for African languages and cultures to dominate at the continent’s universities.
Antony Kaminju/Reuters
Multicultural issues are stirring in NSW. They range from education, aged care and health through to political rights to commemorate unresolved overseas conflicts.
Australians have high levels of national pride and belonging – much higher than for many comparable countries.
EPA/Barbara Walton
Every year, come January 26, Australia Day revives the annual dialogue around notions of national identity, our values and what it means to be Australian. It’s an opportune time to reflect on the findings…