The Political Shift from Multiculturalism to Citizenship

The essay analyzes the notion that shift from multiculturalism to citizenship concerning the internal political outlook of the nation can be detrimental for the ethnically diverse Australian society.

Running head: THE POLITICAL SHIFT FROM MULTICULTURALISM TO CITIZENSHIP
THE POLITICAL SHIFT FROM MULTICULTURALISM TO CITIZENSHIP
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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The focus of the essay is to understand the change in the political outlook of Australia in
the last two decades concerning multiculturalism. In the last two decades, a marked shift has
been witnessed in Australia where multiculturalism has been subtly overtaken by citizenship
concerning the policies and the general political outlook. The Galbally report was presented in
1978, concerning the settlement, cultural changes and other essential aspects related to the arrival
of new migrants and their welfare aspects (Ng and Metz 2015). However, in 1991 a new
coalition government came to power with John Howard being elected as the Prime Minister
(Blair 2015). He was much against multiculturalism from the beginning. The new government
abolished many of the policies that were aimed towards providing greater empowerment and
welfare to migrants. Since, then there has been a significantly evident shift from developing a
multicultural identity of the nation to a citizenship oriented national progress motive. The essay
analyses the notion that shift from multiculturalism to citizenship concerning the internal
political outlook of the nation can be detrimental for the ethnically diverse Australian society.
The last two decades have witnessed the significant shift from multiculturalism to a more
citizenship focused political environment. This has mainly been a resultant product of the
international political environment and significantly the constant threat of international terrorism.
Thus, it can be said that the shift from a multicultural to a citizenship oriented political stance has
gained further support in the recent years. However, the major issue that has been identified is
the feasibility of running a government based on citizenship focused nationalistic political values
and the emergence of the new society that is multi-ethnic in nature. It has to be considered that
immigrants from predominantly Britain and other European countries mainly formed the
Australian society in the beginning. However, since the last few decades new immigrants started
arriving from China, South-east Asia, Middle East and the Indian Sub-Continent. People from all

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kinds of cultural and ethnic backgrounds thus influence the Australian society. Political
inclinations that strongly focus towards citizenship can prove to be difficult to endure in an
increasingly multicultural society. The current population of Australia is around 24 million.
Moreover, almost 90% of the population of the country is urban dwelling (Blair 2015). Around
one-fourth of the population is actually from outside the country. Australian society is one of the
most ethnically diverse in the world. The majorly urbanized society of the country also
complements the notion of a cosmopolitan environment. However, the shift in the political
opinion can cause a substantial portion of the population to lose their political representation and
subsequently be marginalized. Additionally, Australia is home to a large number of indigenous
people. Citizenship focused politics can also create confusion in regards to their representation
and status in the country as citizenship motives often focus on the majority among the population
of a country. The focus of the more citizenship based national political agenda is the stronger
representation of Australians on European descent. Thus, it is evident that a rift between the
European born and the predominantly Asian born or African born population can easily be
created due to this. In the recent years, citizenship campaigns have focused more towards
terrorism and insurgency. Stating them as main reasons behind supporting a lesser multicultural
society the politicians have garnered much support for their causes. The post-World War II
increase in population of the non-European migrants to Australia contributed towards making the
country more ethnically diverse. However, the last two to three decades of citizenship
inclinations have caused a confusing social environment in the country, Additionally, at the same
time the immigration of non-Europeans to the country have increased causing further confusion
in regards to the cultural stance of the government. Recently, racial violence have been
witnessed across many cities in Australia. In the wake of some terrorist attacks outside and

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within the country, there have been backlashes against mostly the Muslim community in the
country. Few years back there were many reported incidents of violence against the South Asians
in the country. Some of the acts of violence even led to the death of victims. Hence, in a multi-
ethnic society like Australia, the implications of shifting away from multiculturalism need to be
judiciously considered by the political classes before making any clear decision concerning their
stance. Some important ethnic groups to be considered are the 3.6% ethnic Chinese and the 5.3%
ethnic minorities that hail from other Asian and European countries (Ng and Metz 2015).
In the early 1980s, the Australian Institute of Multicultural Affairs or AIMA was the
organization that was vested with the responsibility of surveying, documenting, researching and
publishing reports concerning the multi-ethnic situation in Australia (Vasta 2015). The
organization was to provide reports in regards to the ethnic culture, living conditions and
requirements of diverse ethnic groups. However as an organization AIMA failed to do its job
properly and detailed reports about the ethnic minorities in the country were never produced
(Robertson 2015). As a result, significant government programs or policies for the development
of ethnic minorities did not take place. Moreover, the lack of information about the ethnically
diverse Australian population meant that significant social gaps with regards to the acceptance of
a multicultural society were created. This later gave rise to an emerging rift between
multiculturalism and citizenship in the country. An environment of uncertainty was created in the
minds of Australians in this period due to the lack of information in regards to the various ethnic
minorities in the country. In 1986, the AIMA was abolished due to various factors rising from
their incapability to function according to their designated roles and responsibilities. However,
the main concern was the lack of any proper replacement of the organization by the government
and the subsequent rise of citizenship oriented political agendas. The Office of Multicultural

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Affairs and the Equal Opportunity Commission did take significant steps towards defining newer
strategies towards multiculturalism but were unable to make any significant headway. At the
same time in the 1980s there were larger migrations from Asia and the Middle East to Australia
(Iqbal 2018). The newer migrants were culturally much diverse from the previous European
migrants. Thus, greater discontent rose among the exiting population of the country at this time
concerning the position of the migrants. A committee was formed in order to address the effects
of the new wave of migrations. The committee focused on the requirement for immediate
revision of the existing immigration policies (Keddie 2014). As a reason they stated that the
unclear definition of multiculturalism that was formed due to the incompetence of the previous
government organizations could harm the social fabric that existed in the country at the time.
According to the committee, Australians were not ready to accept the kind of multiculturalism
that was proposed by various previous government bodies. They proposed changes in laws
concerning immigration and multiculturalism that can be more easily acceptable among the
public. Especially, there was a significant concern among the existing population about the
commitment of the newly arriving migrants towards the integrity and development of the country
(Keddie 2014). The subsequently formed multicultural policies did not directly segregate people
in regards to ethnicity; however, it laid down that people of all ethnic backgrounds should give
the interests of country prime importance. The 1990s were a period of further citizenship
inclination of the country (Curley and Vandyk 2017). Government divisions for the
establishment of multiculturalism like BIMPR and OMA were further abolished. The
government at this time had John Howard as the Prime Minister. He was known for his strong
criticism of multiculturalism in the country. Subsequently, the programs that were focused on the
welfare of minorities such as the benefit for unemployment programs and the English learning

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programs for migrants (Kallio, Mills and Skelton 2016). The policies market a visible shift of the
politics of the country to a more citizenship-oriented approach. Later on Pauline Hanson was
inducted into the parliament in 1996 (Castles 2016). She was known to be against the policies
that provided better opportunities to the Aboriginal Australians and migrants (Robertson 2015).
In the early 21st century the rising threat of terrorism in the wake of the attacks in New York and
other places in the world gave rise to further consolidation of the citizenship oriented political
agendas. The new citizenship policies and statement of the Australian Government focused more
towards establishing national unity to ensure the security of the nation (Mendes 2017). It was
during this time that a significant anti-Muslim sentiment was on the rise in the predominantly
westernized societies of the world including Australia. In response many agencies were formed
in the country for establishing better communication between Muslims and non-Muslim
Australians (Iqbal 2018). The rise of radical Islamism was also witnessed in various parts of the
country leading to the strengthening of the stance of forces against multiculturalism.
In the later part of the 2000s, there was a greater focus on national integration by the
labour government of country (Marginson 2015). Issues of public safety and security often affect
the perceptions of people concerning multiculturalism. The rising impact of terrorism in the
Australian Society have contributed further towards the political shift towards citizenship-
oriented nationalism. Issues such as racial prejudice, racial marginalization, religious extremism,
religious representation and cultural assimilation still guide the dominant perspectives of
Australians concerning multiculturalism (Pruitt 2016). However, at the same time the Australian
society has continued to grow towards a culturally diverse environment. Currently there are
people in Australia from around 200 language backgrounds (Robertson 2015). This means that if
the current conditions of the country with regards to its multicultural aspects are considered the

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requirement for culturally inclusive political agendas have increased. In the recent past Australia
has also witnessed a series of terrorist attacks that have contributed significantly towards racial
and religious segregations (Dooley, Tait and Zabarjadi Sar 2016). It can be seen that on the one
hand, the non-religious population is increasing and on the other hand, religious extremism is
increasing with regards to some religions. For example- an ongoing debate about the
implementation of Sharia law in Australia has garnered much controversy (Roose and Possamai
2015). It is important to understand that in a rapidly growing multi-ethnic nation like Australia,
effective government policies should focus more towards preserving the multicultural aspects of
the society. Moreover, citizenship focused political inclinations in the country are increasingly
causing the rise of the far-right groups in the country (Walton et al., 2018). It is highly important
that better government agencies are formed keeping in mind the shortcomings of the previously
failed multicultural agencies. Better-informed and competent multicultural agencies are required
that can strengthen the multicultural framework of the country. Moreover, it is much required
that multicultural awareness is increased through the educational system of the country in order
to improve the perception of the youth regarding multiculturalism (Pruitt 2016). The current
scenario in regards to the issues faced concerning the impact of multiculturalism is focused more
towards religious segregation. The present cultural segregations are mostly aimed towards the
Muslim other. Religious centres are trying to bring forward dialogues that are more religious for
effectively tackling various cultural challenges. The Australian government have slowly started
shifting towards political ideologies that wholly support multiculturalism. Cultural understanding
between communities can help to eradicate many of the underlying fears of the Australian
population. Far right groups need to be discouraged through the government mechanisms
(McAllister 2015).

7THE POLITICAL SHIFT FROM MULTICULTURALISM TO CITIZENSHIP
In conclusion, it can be said that the politics of Australia has for a long time witnessed a
marked shift from multiculturalism to citizenship. This has resulted in the abolition of many
policies that might have contributed towards greater political representation of its ethnically
diverse population. The previous policies have fuelled racial segregation that has even resulted in
the outbreak of violence in many instances. It is also important to understand that the underlying
fears of the Australian population have been represented through the political agendas of the
various parties. The ethnic environment of the country has changed in the meantime with more
people from diverse cultural, ethnic and linguistic backgrounds entering the country. It is
important to consider that a large number of also visit the country for further education. Creating
an environment of cultural acceptance can help the students to have better futures. In all,
citizenship focused politics should be backed by policies that strongly consider multicultural
aspects of the Australian society. Greater political representation of all the ethnically diverse
citizens can create an environment of greater security in the backdrop of the ongoing
international terrorism threats.

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