The Political Shift from Multiculturalism to Citizenship

Running head: THE POLITICAL SHIFT FROM MULTICULTURALISM TO CITIZENSHIP
THE POLITICAL SHIFT FROM MULTICULTURALISM TO CITIZENSHIP
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1THE POLITICAL SHIFT FROM MULTICULTURALISM TO CITIZENSHIP
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

2THE POLITICAL SHIFT FROM MULTICULTURALISM TO CITIZENSHIP
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