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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-02-24 Daily Xml
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MULTICULTURALISM

Mrs VLAHOS (Taylor) (15:11): My question is to the Minister for Multicultural Affairs. South Australia is a rich and vibrant multicultural state, but I have been following the debate over the past weeks both in our state and at a national level about the value of multiculturalism.

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mrs VLAHOS: Can you please explain how the government is supporting diversity in our community in South Australia?

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI (Hartley—Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Youth, Minister for Volunteers, Minister Assisting the Premier in Social Inclusion) (15:11): I would like to thank the member for Taylor and acknowledge her commitment to multiculturalism in our community. Can I say that I do welcome this debate that our community is having at the moment because the future of multiculturalism is much bigger than all of us in this place and much bigger than all of our parties, and it is something worth fighting for.

This parliament should be very proud of its contribution to this policy so far. In fact, it was only a few years ago that I moved a motion that this place reaffirms its commitment to multiculturalism in the face of the then Howard government's intention—and he did—to remove it from the public policy agenda. I was very pleased that this place supported that motion, and we did so together, both parties. Of course, I am thrilled that Gillard government has announced a move back into this policy area with the appointment of Senator Kate Lundy as parliamentary secretary.

What we need to remember is that multiculturalism is a policy for managing our community's diversity, and it is one that has worked. We know that this is a debate that is often filled with emotion, and that certainly has its place, but we also need to ensure that our debate is informed by facts, not only emotion. This brings me to a report that was released yesterday entitled Challenging Racism Research Project. The research was led by Professor Kevin Dunn from the University of Western Sydney's School of Social Sciences and surveyed more than 12,500 people throughout Australia over 12 years.

The data is very interesting. It shows that nearly 90 per cent of South Australians feel good about a society made up of people from different cultures, and 85 per cent believe that all races are equal. These results also reflect the ongoing reporting against the State Strategic Plan that shows that nine out of 10 South Australians believe that cultural diversity is a positive thing.

But what the research shows is that this debate is deeply complex. For instance, the report also found that 37.5 per cent of respondents from South Australia believe that increasing the levels of diversity will lead to a weaker nation and 12.3 per cent admit to being prejudiced against other cultures. The figures reflect concerns related to specific groups in our community, with nearly 50 per cent anti-Muslim; 31.7 per cent anti-Indigenous; and 30.7 per cent anti-black African.

While our society is underpinned by laws to protect people against race discrimination, community attitudes such as these still give us enormous concern. However, I do believe very strongly that the solution lies not in trying to gag or control the debate, but to inform the debate. We need to ask ourselves in this place what are the values that we believe are worth fighting for. Do we tolerate racism, or do we reject it and work to inform our community about the value of different cultures? I commend the report to all members in this place.

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