Fair Go Culture

Culture is always changing. Beliefs, behaviours and presentation, religion and language all form part of what is an individual’s or community’s culture. (Bowes, Grace, & Hodge, 2012, p.75 & 77). Due to its intrinsic nature, when people migrate to Australia, they bring their culture with them. As migrants come from all over the world, and not the one place, their

Since World War 2 and the Vietnam War, Australia has become a multicultural country. Before the Vietnam War, though, the Australian government tried their best to keep Australia ‘white’. After the fear of communism from Vietnam, the government thought it would be in the country’s best interest to try and build up the population in Australia, but only allowing ‘white’ Europeans and British people to come. What is included in this report, is to discover how and why the migrants from non-European countries manage to change the face of modern Australia.

Set during the Vietnam war and at a time where the White Australia policy was not completely dismantled, prejudice is a key

In a recent article authored by Alice Pung, a first generation Australian of Southeast Asian parents, titled ‘Living with Racism in Australia (Pung 2016), Alice details key points within her (and her families) life revolving around their migration from Cambodia to Australia. Within this she touches on, albeit briefly however still illustrating her point quite clearly, immigration, race/racism, assimilation, ethnic minorities, ethnic conflict and social cohesion.

In the essay, we have discussed a Vietnamese family, how they suffered, in their own country, escaping through Cambodia and Thailand, finally, finding a refuge in Australia. Nguyen’s book is the premise for the essay; there are sourced references supporting the statements used. The first years, after abandoning the White Australia policy, during the time of Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser is looked at briefly. Blainey’s debate is shown as an anti-racist idea, which most Australians did not agree with. The book is well-written by a woman who was not born or was too young to know most of the information, that means that the book was written by gleaning knowledge, from her parents and relatives. Nguyen has chronologically time lined the book excellently.

The Australian Citizenship Legislation Amendment, Strengthening the Requirements for Australian Citizenship and Other Measures Bill 2017, introduced by Mr Peter Dutton, minister for Immigration and Border Protection proposed to reform the requirements of citizenship. The bill incorporates a number of integrity measures to ensure migrants are capable of upholding Australian values and subsequently, prepared to be full, active members in Australian society. To maintain social cohesion and facilitate social progression, the bill suggests stricter application requirements, fundamental to determine whether an individual acquires Australian values measured through new imposed testing. Currently, Australia is a combination of diverse cultures, religions and consequently, it is considerably difficult to define the values of Australian citizens as a whole. Therefore, the underlying motives of the Australian Citizenship Bill 2017 are highly controversial.

According to Hugo, Australia’s history with refugees can be characterised as a love-hate relationship, both in terms of government policy and public support and attitudes (Hugo 2001: 35). On the one hand Australia has resettled more than 700.000 refugees and displaced persons under its offshore program, who have been given a great deal of government and community support. On the other hand the country is carrying out harsh and highly criticised policies towards asylum seekers and refugees arriving by boat, which research shows that a majority of the Australian population supports (McKay et al. 2011: 115). According to a national survey conducted in January 2015 by an Australian media research firm, it was found that “58 percent of Australians considered the country’s position on asylum-seekers either appropriate or too soft; only 26 percent thought it too tough” (The New York Times 2015). These opinions are also exemplified through major political parties, shown by the fact that changing Australian Governments from different political parties have all carried out similar policies. This could be related to the fact, that Australia has a long history of selectivity and control in terms of the country’s immigration policies, tracing back to the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 (McKenzie and Hasmath 2013:

Migrants and immigrants are from a whole different world, although many authors in Growing up Asian in Australia were born in Australia and while their customs and traditions are seen as the norm to them they are seen as different by many Australians. These cultural traditions and practices are far from what the majority are used to and so are neither known nor understood. This result usually in people misunderstanding migrant’s individuality and can cause unfair exclusion. Governed was horrified when the school bully accused her of wiping her “butt with her hands” on the terms of her Indian background and as a result had to deal with constant teasing and taunts

Reports from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2003a, 2003b, as cited in Ashman & Elkins, 2009, p. 7) show 25% of the Australian population is currently made up of migrants from around 200 countries. This fact demonstrates Australia, on the whole, has a tolerant and inclusive society. A society can be identified as a collection of people who live together in a relatively ordered community (Ashman & Elkins, 2009, p. 7). It could be said, Australia has one of the most inclusive societies on the planet; however, this was not always the case.

Most migrants that came to Australia to grab a share of the gold rush, left behind family and home. In traditional Chinese culture this was particularly difficult for them to come from a parent’s heavy focused family system, to an alien country to live.

The concept of being a ‘nation of immigrants’ is at the center of Australian identity.

Australia “The Lucky Country”; a stepping stone to a better life. The words of social critic Donald Horne stated in 1964 have been used to describe Australia’s wonderful culture, history and lifestyle. For many 20th century migrants this is what they only knew about the country creating an outburst of migrants arriving into Australia with the desire to seek a better life, escape poverty, war or persecution. They brought along with them a mix bag of emotions; fear and worry, happiness and joy alongside the expectations of the typical Australian life hoping to find acceptance, belonging, freedom and a promising future. However, due to the impact of many polices and historical events that have taken place in the past, the migrant experience has

My grandfather came to Australia as a student to complete his PhD on 23rd March 1971. For the first time in his life, he came over an entirely different situation of living in a multicultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious Western society. To quote my grandfather, "Regardless of how wrong any idea or any practice may seem, as a true follower of Islam, one should not hate the person concerned. This is the true message of universal brotherhood, which I grasped fully after coming to Australia. The whole of humanity is sailing in the same boat, being victims of circumstances. A lot of patience and perseverance is required for correcting the situation." Through my grandfather's experiences as a young man protesting for freedom and rights in the world while having a close friend terribly wounded in India, I feel he is a true Australian making me believe that I am as well. By the way, he valued his friends and community just like Daryll did. Since Darryl is a true Australian who carries the same values as my grandfather of mateship, loyalty and family values I believe whoever owns these values in Australia no matter where you were born or lived first, are true Australians.

Asian Immigrants have gone from having a continuous restriction year to year then to becoming a major part of Australian society. However, since the policy of Integration in 1970 and the abolishment of the dictation test in 1958 Asians has had the opportunity to migrate to Australia. This has been continuous since that major change with more and more arriving every year. The changes in these policies were made as Australia was becoming a more multicultural society and the Asian Migration wave has altered Australia today by making Australia richer and more culturally diverse. Asian immigrants have also contributed to the change in the Australian Political Policies which has allowed Migrants to become more accepted into Australia. Because of this no changes should be made to these political

Within the first episode they visit an Iraq group and an African family. The Iraq group had different religions among them and it is hard for them to practice their religion in Australia. The Africans ate their food traditionally which meant they were not allowed to consume alcohol and they had to eat with their hands; no knifes or forks are to be used. When they would eat in public, people would stare and make the Africans feel like they were being judged. Just like Alices family from “Unpolished gem”, they decided to assimilate as well. Although the Iraqis and the Africans could both speak English, you can instantly tell that English isn’t their first language and that is something people discriminate against. Constantly being looked down upon and judged for their cultural differences in comparison to Australians, immigrants suffer further once they have safely arrived in