Mere knowledge of Asian languages means nothing unless the people with knowledge of those language wish to act as an interface and are qualified to act as an interface between Australia and the particular Asian country or countries whose language they know. My father was fluent in Russian, but he wished to have nothing to do with Russia after he left Russia for the US. He retained an interest in Russian novels and Russian poetry, but that had nothing to do with relations between the US and the Russian speaking world. I assume many of the speakers of Asian languages are the same. They retain an interest and feel for the culture of the country that they left, but they wish to become part of the new country they are in.

What a muddle-headed article.

If people naturally communicate and connect better with people like themselves, then surely that is an argument against multiculturalism and diversity on the national level?

If it takes an ethnic Chinese to deal with the Chinese, how are Australians supposed to get along with the Chinese who live in Australia?

Mr. Herscovitch is evidently not a supporter of the assimilationist ideal. Perhaps be believes that is impossible to assimilate Asian immigrants into Australia's mainstream British-derived culture. Or maybe he just thinks it wrong to expect non-Westerners to assimilate into Western society. Whatever the case, Mr. Herscovitch envisions the continued expansion in Australia of non-assimilating Asian diasporic communities forever rooted culturally in their ancestral homelands.

That sounds awfully like a new form of colonialism to me.

"New large-scale Asian studies programs are not necessary because the genius of Australian multiculturalism, to borrow an apt phrase from immigration minister Chris Bowen, has set Australia up for success in the Asian Century."

So "multiculturalism" is really just a codeword for Asianisation?

After all, all long-standing European ethnic minority groups in Australia, such as Italian-, German- and Polish-Australians, are in sharp decline demographically, as is the European-Australian population in general. In a multicultural society, why have these groups been allowed to wither at the vine? If multiculturalism really valued these particular cultures, then why are we experiencing the de-Europeanisation of Australia?