Influence of Multiculturalism in Australia - Essay Example

Impacts of Multiculturalism in Australia Department Impacts of Multiculturalism in Australia Introduction Multiculturalism in Australia has a distinctive edifying significance. The definition of multiculturalism has transformed extremely since its official introduction to Australia. Initially, it was acknowledged by the majority of the population as essential to favorable reception that various associates of the Australian society formerly originated from diverse civilizations and still had links to it.

 Nevertheless, it came to denote the privileges of migrants within conventional Australia to convey their civilizing character. It is currently, often utilized to refer to the reality that a great deal of citizens in Australia possess, and identify several cultural or racial upbringings. Globalization creates a propagation of hyphenated, multinational characteristics (Babacan 2011, pp.25-38). Undeniably, it is nowadays reasonably conventional to falsify and keep multi-ethnic distinctiveness and adopt both national and intercontinental associations.

Nonetheless, the countless dissertations of multiculturalism comprehend these contemporary characteristics in conflicting means. Anglo-Indians, or Eurasians, as they were identified in the nineteenth century, are the “mixed race” descendants of British colonialism in India and are seen by some to be paradigms of neo-liberal cosmopolitanism (Forrest 2010, pp.81-102). Snubbed by both Indian and British Societies, the experts in the arts, literature and sciences had minimal reason to focus to this very small community until rather lately.

This paper aspires to identify the impact and influence of Multiculturalism in Australia towards Anglo-Indian people. It will begin with the reason why sudden interest on these very small community developed. It will also discuss the characteristics of Anglo-Indians in comparison to other races. In addition, it will explore the variety of effects that took place after multicultural was introduced in Australia following the demolition of the White Australia policy, particularly its consequences.

It also deems to outweigh and tackle the benefits over the disadvantages of Multiculturalism in Australia. Impacts of Multiculturalism in Australia Just as the Britons brought about a cultural variegation in India through social and economic interactions, so was the case in Australia. To a great extent, Australia has come to experience an increase in the number of immigrations in the last ten years. In the time spanning from 2003/4 and 1993, Australia experienced a net increase of immigrants from 30,000 to 11,000.

In the same wavelength, in the period between 2004 and 2005, this number of immigrants was 123,425. Out of the above immigrants, 18,222 were from Britain, 17,734 from African descent, 21,133 from Oceania, 54,802 from Asia, 2,369 from Eastern Europe and 1,506 from South America (Berman & Paradies 2010, pp.214-232). That this trend is not likely to retrogress is a matter which is further underscored by the statistics that were released in the last 5 years. For instance, in the year 2006/7, 131,000 immigrants got into Australia, while the anticipated number for the year 2006/7 was 144,000.

In this effect, speculations are rife that for the year 2008/9, the number of immigrants that entered Australia would be 30,000. This is the highest number that has ever been recorded by the Australian foreign affairs ever the since the close of World War II (Hassam 2008, pp.139-146). It is important to take into consideration that the immediately above development has been successful in rendering and making Australia a cultural melting pot. This is because the population in Australia has become irrevocably variegated along ethnic, religious and ethno-linguistic values.

This means that although English and other indigenous languages remain the widest spoken therein, yet Australia remains a strong polyglot given that the mixed races and ethnicities represent and use diverse languages. In the same light, these ethnic groups represent different cultural values, creeds and ideology (Ghobadzedeh 2010, p.301). In another wavelength, it is fair and lucid to state that multiculturalism has brought with it, the need to make amendments and abrogation on Australian law, especially in so far as economic matters were concerned.

For instance, given that initially, Queensland was seen to belong to the autochthones who mainly led their lives as subsistence farmers, the settlers, armed with education, military endowment and their legal code which they imported into Australia, easily acquired an appropriated the factors of production, especially land. This would begin a long epoch that would see the autochthones being relegated to fringes of the Australian economy and being made subject to rampant poverty (Jakubowicz 2011, pp.65-85). According to Fozdar (2009, pp.496-512), particularly, an example of the legal constructs and doctrines that were used to take land from the aborigines is Terra nullius.

Terra nullius taught and asserted that when the British settlers entered into Australia, the land therein was bare and bereft of (legal) owners. To make this doctrine effective and in consistency with the rest of the law, the doctrine of aboriginal title and the common law were normally sidestepped r overruled. In this respect, whenever the aborigines went for legal redress over a piece of land, he was bound to be defeated by the white settler in Australia. It was until the last decade of the 20th century that Australia begun to take seriously, the reality behind the marginalization of the autochthones by making the 1982 Queensland Amendment Act.

This act was very instrumental, given that it recognized the issuance of grants and trusts for the aboriginals (Babacan 2011, p.28). Particularly, the first case that would see the unprecedented rejection of terra nullius in favour of the doctrine of aboriginal title and the common law doctrine was the Mabo v Queensland Number 2. This case would see Merriam people who had been occupying the Murray Islands that are situated in Torres Strait win a case over a few capitalists who wanted to acquire their land for the purpose of factory construction.

While the ruling acknowledged the place of the autochthones in the economic development of Australia, the court ruled that to sidestep the fact that the Merriam people occupied the land being contested would be tantamount to totally extirpating the socio-economic lifestyle of the same people (Forrest 2010, p.86). Conversely, according to Samani (2007, pp.113-119), one of the realities that have sent the Australian authorities concerned over the growth of multiculturalism therein is terrorism.

Multiculturalism has its roots in globalization, and it is through globalization and the right to move from one country to another and to change citizenship that are being pointed out as the very conduits that terrorists have used to infiltrate terrorist onslaughts and ideals into Australia and any other country (Poynting 2008, p.5). Conclusion It is against the backdrop of the above that one can tacitly observe that as far as Australia is concerned, multiculturalism has continually remained both a boon and a bane.

As far as the demerits are concerned, Australia can only find perfect panacea in proper legislation. It is proper legislation that will protect the rights of all citizens of Australia, and thereby ensuring amicable socio-economic cohesion in Australia. It is also through proper legislation that the relation between the citizen, the immigrant and the Australian government ca be properly drawn so that structural definition and frameworks for tackling the banes of a society such as terrorism and unequal distribution of the wealth can be tenable.

Nevertheless, it remains true that there are several good outcomes that took effect after the demolition of the White Australia policy, which gave birth to Australian multiculturalism that brought forth decline in racial discrimination and aided in augmenting equal rights for descendants of the so-called “colored race.” References Babacan, A., 2011. “Multiculturalism in Australia.” Journal of Industrial Relations and Human Resources, 9(3): pp.25-38. Berman, Gabrielle., & Paradies, Yin., 2010. Racism, Disadvantage and Multiculturalism: Towards Effective Anti-Racist Praxis, 33 (2): pp.214-232. Forrest, James., 2010. “Attitudes to Multicultural Values in Diverse Spaces in Australia’s Immigrant Cities, Sidney and Melbourne.

” Space and Polity, 14(1): pp.81-102. Fozdar, Farida., 2009. “The Australian Citizenship Test: Process and Rhetoric.” Australian Journal of Politics and History, 55(4): pp.496-512. Ghobadzedeh, Neser., 2010. “A Multiculturalism-Feminism Dispute: Muslim Women and the Sharia Debate in Canada and Australia.” Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, 48(3): pp.301-319. Hassam, Andrew., 2008. “Australia, Bollywood and Cosmopolitanism: Showcasing Australia Internationally.” International Journal of Diversity in Nations, Organization and Communities, 8(3): pp.139-146. Jakubowicz, Andrew., 2011. “Empires of the Sun: Towards a Post-Multicultural Australian Politics.

” Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 3(1): pp.65-85. Poynting, Scott., 2008. “The Attack on Political Correctness: Islamophobia and the Erosion of Multiculturalism in Australia under the Howard Regime.” Social Alternatives, 27(1): pp.5-9. Samani, Shamim., 2007. “Rhetoric and Realities of Multiculturalism: The Perpetuation and Negative Construction of Muslims in Australia.” International Journal of Diversity in Organizations, Communities and Nations, 7(2): pp.113-119.