Foxy,

". I shall leave it at that.
Find someone else to argue with over numbers or percentage"

You brought up the subject, so don't chicken out, back your statement with a reference.

Toni,

"The flag of Saint David was mostly unknown in Wales until 1994. There was a large one along the roof in St David's Cathedral with the cinquefoils thereon but hardly any others in use. The Welsh Tartan Company (WTC) were looking around for a 'brand' to complete the Brithwe Dewi Sant (St David's Tartan).
J Wake, then of the WTC, set out to see if the flag could be used commercially or indeed patriotically across Wales....."
from Wikipedia.

Hardly a traditional flag of the Welsh nation!!

The fact that the Red Dragon of Wales would not fit neatly onto the Union Flag is the same reason that the Shamrock of Ireland was not used (as it had been earlier) and the Geraldines' Saltire was chosen as it fitted, physically though not in accord with the rules/traditions of vexillology.

Dear Is Mise,

I don't have to back anything.
I've explained things to you regarding
demographics if you want to know more you can Google
the 2011 Census for yourself and see how many
ancestries Australians lay claim to.

To me numbers
are not important. The fact remains that today
Australians come from a wide variety of cultures
and as Mr Saeed Khan tells us - let us be united
not divisive which I consider a good call.

See you on another discussion. This one has run its
course.

Dearest Foxy,

On the contrary, it's barely begun. We do need to talk about what you might call 'positive multiculturalism' - promoting the values that Australians should be sharing, versus a rather brainless 'negative multiculturalism' in which every group fosters its own values and to hell with any sort of national solidarity, let alone unity.

As a positive multiculturalist, I'm happy to live, work and play with anyone whose specificities are no great burden to other Australians, i.e. language, food preferences, humour and aspirations. I'm wary of anybody who, whether for cultural reasons or otherwise, is antagonistic to, or promotes, unequal relations between men and women, especially if they use religion to justify their attitudes. I'm not keen on anybody who has racist attitudes towards, or demonises, anybody else.

But apart from that, I'm happy with an inclusive, positive, healthy and contributing multiculturalism. After all, something like that has made Australia what it is now, to a large extent. I really don't give a toss about comparative trivia such as flag design (despite being involved in making Aboriginal Flags back in the 1970s), even the present one, although one day, I'm sure, we'll get around to putting up something more relevant to Australia - the Union Jack is a bit irrelevant, and the Southern Cross - please forgive me, Australia - is, after all, visible to half the world, it's hardly the exclusive property of Australia or NZ.

Love,

Joe

Dear Joe,

I've covered this topic so many times in the past.
I appreciate your post but I really feel that I
have nothing new to add. Therefore I shall leave
you with a link that you might find interesting.
It's from a speech to the Sydney Institute, 9 March
2016, given by Dr Tim Soutphommasane, Race
Discrimination Commissioner on "The Success of
Australia's Multiculturalism." : -

http://www.humanrights.gov.au/news/speeches/success-australia-s-multiculturalism

It's worth a read.

See you on another discussion.

Foxy,

You said, did you not, that "Today the surviving population of culturally British people is small and their descendants are being matched in number
by newcomers."

That statement is demonstrably false, just look at the number of people who have the name 'Smith', the commonest name in Australia.

You've been posting unreliable waffle.

Dear Foxy,

I was struck by this quote from Dr Soutphommasane's speech:

"Contrary to its critics, Australian multiculturalism has never sanctioned a form of cultural relativism. Any right to express one’s cultural identity and heritage has been accompanied by responsibilities. There must be a commitment to liberal democratic values – to parliamentary democracy, to the rule of law, to equality of the sexes, to freedom of speech....

"In other words, Australian multiculturalism has always been an exercise in nation-building. It has always aimed to strengthen Australian national identity, not to supersede it. It has always been robust and muscular; it has always been committed to liberal democracy. "

Spot-on :)

Love,

Joe