Critical Reflection on Australian Multiculturalism and Muslims

This critical reflection explores the multifaceted landscape of cultural diversity in Australia, focusing on the experiences of Muslims and Aboriginal Australians within a multicultural framework. The essay examines the challenges and triumphs of integrating diverse communities, addressing issues such as religious tolerance, social integration, and the impact of immigration policies. It highlights the historical and ongoing struggles faced by Aboriginals, including land rights and socioeconomic disparities, while also analyzing the portrayal and treatment of Muslims in the post-9/11 era. The author reflects on the role of government policies, media representation, and societal perceptions in shaping the experiences of these groups, emphasizing the importance of understanding, empathy, and active integration to foster a truly inclusive Australian identity. The essay also touches upon the importance of education and the evolution of a bi-cultural society, and the need to overcome biases and promote equality for all citizens, regardless of their cultural or religious background.

Running head: CRITICAL REFLECTION
Muslims, Multiculturalism and Aboriginals in Australia
Student Name
University name
Author Note

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Building a successful and inspiring nation is long, difficult and complicated process. A
nation is a group of people who share tradition, history, religion, language and culture. The
national identity of any nations builds up depending upon common identity beyond individual
identities (McLaren, 2017). Australian national identity has to overcome various internal cultural
and religious conflicts in order to establish itself permanently. Australia is like a mosaic of many
religions and many cultures.
Australia as a country has always been exhibited great tolerance towards the diverse
cultures and religions (Bouma, 2016). However the historical and cultural difference between
Christianity and Islam is too big to ignore and but we must engage itself with a creative dialog
that deals with the difference with a positive aim. Australian Census has reported that the number
of Muslim in Australia is more than 600,000 and 2.6% of the total population (Abs.gov.au,
2016). Every Muslim loves Australia like any other Australian does. Australia represents a
nation that welcomes diverse cultures from all over the world and people live in peace and
harmony. The treatment towards the Muslim community in Australia has changed like most of
other western countries after 9/11 (Cherney & Murphy, 2016). The media generalized the
Muslims and associated the whole of the community with some extremists who want nothing but
destruction of that peace and harmony. The depiction of Islam during this period has affected the
citizen’s perspectives greatly. In Australia, the Muslims are also misinterpreted as a religion
based on extremism, fanaticism, terrorism and violence. Here too the people face prejudices,
discrimination and inequalities from the society especially as a result of media’s portrayal of the
community (Sultan, 2016). That is why the representatives from the community are increasing in
numbers who are defending their religion through the newspaper articles, radio programs or

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talks. Muslims in Australia are experiencing the discrimination in various ways like attacks in
Mosques. We are experiencing how Muslim women in Australia are facing discrimination
against their traditional attire called burqa (Chopra, 2015). Fred Nile, a conservative member
from the parliament proposed ban on hijab had sparked huge controversy (Barker, 2014). There
are multiple reports that the women in burqa have been spat on and there head scarves have been
ripped. They face harassment, abuse and assaults not only on streets but also in schools and
workplaces.
There are Islamic press is Australia like El-Telegraph: Al Watan or Saut al Mughtareb
that has been working in improving the cultural tradition in Australia (Ata, 2013). Though this
media was too isolated from the mainstream society but the second generation of representatives
is getting more involved into a greater integration. The educator can play important role in the
process where they will acknowledge and guide the students from diverse background. The
number of children from the mixed marriage is also increasing so the society has to welcome
them more openly in every parts of life.
A significant step towards the integration would be the educational initiatives in the state
and national level. We are experiencing that gradually the generation is transforming into bi-
cultural citizens who will definitely enhance the confidence, comfort and relationship among
people from various cultural or religious identities. I strongly belief that the visibility of Islam is
getting increased in the Australian society and it is not far when the Muslims in Australia will be
identified as Muslim-Australian where both the identities are acknowledged (O’Donnell, Davis
& Ewart, 2017).

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The immigration policies of Australia have greatly changed the cultural scenario of
Australia. It is true that the nation has taken this shape by the people from various ethnic,
religious and cultural backgrounds. Contemporary Australia is a nation where all the citizens,
despite their cultural backgrounds call the country their home and multiculturalism has become
its core of national identity. Multiculturalism can be defined as an ideal concept that encourages
multiple communities to live peacefully and enjoy equal opportunities (Modood, 2013). The
history of Australia tells that the one of the original inhabitants of Australia are the Australian
aboriginals who have been living in the country for more than 50000 years (Gibbons, 2017).
Then the European colonizers like Spanish, French, Dutch and English colonized the place.
However the British started developing the county and settled there for a longer period. In the
initial phase of twentieth century the immigration restriction policies and Pacific Islands Laborer
Act resisted the immigrants into the country. Till the Second World War Australian society was
dominated by only Europeans. During Second World War many non European people settled in
the country. Allowing the non European refugees in the country exhibited the first step towards
developing a multicultural society.
Multiculturalism was widely accepted by the Australian society and supported by the
government. The mainstream politics affected the multiculturalism like the actions John Howard
took driven by traditional Australian values (Hussein & Poynting, 2017). However we are now
experiencing that the governments both in national and state level have been changing towards a
better situation. The national and state governments are incorporating multiculturalism in various
parts of life as a strategy to enhance community relationship and social equilibrium. In order to
make Australia a nation of multiculturalism the government has established “The Council for
Multicultural Australia” (Roose, 2016). The council worked to increase the awareness related to

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the country’s potential benefits in business and society through multiculturalism. As a university
I also see the number of my university mates has increased a lot. The country has realized that
through promoting the diversity among business and universities ultimately leading the nation
towards financial benefit. Planned immigrant policy is a great initiative by the government that
has not only increased the cultural value of the nation but also the financial profit (Ueffing,
Rowe & Mulder, 2015). As the promotion of multiculturalism ahs increased more number of
international tourists feels safe and welcome in the country. The new advisory board for
promoting multiculturalism in Australia eliminated the strict multicultural policy by the Howard
government and replaced with a more effective and appropriate one. The government aims to
promote the multiculturalism through various ways. The multicultural policy by the Australian
Government helps the society to create equality beyond the individual identities based on
language, religion, race or culture. It also aims to monitor that rights of every Australian citizens
are protected.
At the same time it cannot be ignored that there exists a conflict between the people’s
views regarding the acceptance of the immigrants in the mainstream society. Some believe that
the constant addition of immigrants into the Australian population will have negative impact in
the future. There also exists the language issue, as many of the people from different cultural
background are not comfortable with English speaking. These issues are being acknowledged by
the state and national governments as they are searching better solutions to resolve the
differences among the people from different cultures (Markus, 2014).
We experience and take part in the increasing number of various cultural celebrations that
aimed for recognizing, accepting and promoting cultural diversity. The intercultural exchange of
love and respect is helping to improve the situation. The government focuses more on identifying

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the issues that have been affecting the religious and cultural equilibrium of Australian society.
The state governments are also incorporating more effective English language programs for the
students from diverse cultural background (Farrant et al., 2014). The contemporary concept of
being an Australian is largely influenced by the widely embraced multiculturalism of the
Australian society. Therefore the nation welcomes immigrants more than most countries and
takes pride of its multicultural identity.
The term we use for the native population of Australia is aboriginal or indigenous that
shows our lack of knowledge or disinterest to know them more. Also I feel there is a sense of
differentiation in our addressing them through a common term when they themselves prefer to be
called separately and in terms from their own language. The aboriginals from East call
themselves as Koori that translates into our people or in north they are called Yoingu or centre
they are called anangu (Nationalgeographic.com, 2013). Aboriginals have inhabited in the country
for more than 50000 years and still they struggle to prove their identity as Australian citizens.
Since the mid twentieth century the aboriginals have been complaining about their poor
living condition and the government’s ignorance towards them. The government with the help of
citizens developed “Racial Discrimination Act” or “Aboriginal Land Rights” that improved the
condition of the aboriginals in Australia (Moorcroft, 2016). However the government failed to
materialize the laws and they were still struggling to gain their lad rights. Even the issue drew
attention of the United Nations that accused the government of violating their basic human
rights. The history of stolen generation still haunts the current generation of modern Australia
and the sorry day is a symbolic representation of their apology to the natives. Understanding the
aboriginal culture is an effective step towards realization of their condition in modern Australia.
The concepts of dreamtime, dream paths and totems are important to understand their situation in

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contemporary Australia. We are one of the highly developed nations yet the aboriginals are one
of the most underprivileged socio economic classes of the nation. Most of the aboriginals live in
the rural areas or suburbs. Most non aboriginal houses are single family household but the high
birth rate and family friendly nature results in multi-family houses for aboriginals. It is also quite
evident that their living standard is not equivalent to the living standard of non aboriginals. The
aboriginals are facing major challenge in employment. Most aboriginals still get paid really less
and work hard in the rural areas. ATSIC or DAA are helping them get jobs in the public sectors
(Abs.gov.au, 2016). The government has take initiatives like “unemployment benefits and
welfare” that helps the aboriginals struggling with unemployment. However this as given birth to
a common misconception among the non aboriginal citizens that those aboriginals do not work
and depend on the government completely. The children from the aboriginal communities also
receive poor education which eventually affecting the careers in future. The government has
started the program named ABSTUDY that aims to support the deserving aboriginal students
with financial support (Indigenous.gov.au, 2016). Currently we find that aboriginal artists are
getting huge success in the art field but the commercialization of aboriginal art and culture is
questionable. I have been discussing the various aspects of cultural or religious diversity in
Australian society. I tried to explore both the positive and negative aspects of the issues but
somehow failed to identify why the issues have not yet been resolved. One of the reasons could
be our lack of knowledge or interest to know the people who believe in something different. It is
quite natural for the people from different cultural background to feel isolated and minor. It is
actually our duty to take the active role in integrating them as part of our every day existence. I
would like to mention another issue that came in the foreground through the process of
understanding of cultural diversity in Australian society. We fail to understand the problems of

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the cultural minorities because we see them from the perspective of white people. That is the
reason we fail to understand why hijab is more than just a piece of cloth or we generalize all the
Muslims or native Australians.
In order to integrate tem in the Australian mainstream society we also have to overcome
our perception of them as outsiders or exotic. This will help the mainstream society to treat them
as any other Australian citizen. Preserving the native culture or celebrating the diverse culture
once in a year is not adequate for the integration of the cultural or religious diverse people in the
Australian mainstream society. Both the Australian state and national governments, from the past
had implemented such policies that damaged the multiculturalism greatly. Therefore in order to
fix those effectively the present state or national government has to be extra careful. The
government policies and regulations must consider the multicultural nature of the society and
should take care of the concerns of the minorities.

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