:: One People, Many Cultures ::



::Living Together in Respect and Friendship::

SBS broadcasted an interesting group debate last night about immigrants and Australian values. Apparently Australia is about to bring in a compulsory values test for Citizenship applicants. I don’t think any of the people involved were happy with the idea, whether they were immigrants or generational Aussies. I certainly don’t get the point. How can we test people’s values, and why should it be important, anyway?

I’m proud of Australia’s multiculturalism. I do expect that anyone coming to Australia make an effort to fit in with our values and lifestyle, as I’ve done when I’ve lived overseas. I don’t expect anybody to accept those values unconditionally. If they can’t stand living in our society, then they should go home, but if they simply find it uncomfortable and have other ideas, why shouldn’t they share them and see waht happens? Some of us might agree.

While I’m on this topic, I recall a conversation with a Japanese friend who is not a citizen, but has permanent residency. She was shocked to find that her 5 year old daughter didn’t make christmas decorations at school (pre-school?) last year because such cultural distinction was banned. That’s terrible! Multicultural doesn’t mean cultureless. It means we have people who all live different ways and have different religions and we accept them all. I’m not christian (neither is my Japanese friend), but Australia is traditionally a christian country and those traditions should be embraced and nurtured.

That doesn’t mean we should exclude other traditions. I’ve been into schools recently and seen as many Indian, Asian and Hispanic teachers as white Australians. These teachers should also be encouraged to share their own traditions.

Lets make christmas decorations and sing carols in December, but lets also celebrate Losa in February and Day of the Dead in November.

Yesterday on the train, I heard a couple of businessmen talking. One was commenting at the absurdity of a law that prevented him from taking a picture of his own kid at the beach.

I see the same restrictions at work. We provide the option of recording videoconferences to all our customers, but we have to make it clear that they have responsibility for meeting legal requirements. One is that if any student is attending the meeting or event, then they need official approval to record the event from the student’s parents.

The idea is of course to prevent child pornography and sex abuse, but I must agree with the businessman. When laws are made that restrict daily life for everyone out of fear of a minority, things have gone too far. What’s next? Banning jewellery stores because they encourage break-ins? Banning food because it can kill people?