Send us your misfits -

- the ones who didn't fit in with the British aristocracy.

- the Irish who wouldn't kneel to the British Empire.

- the Europeans who had enough of wartime fascism.

- the Asians who had enough of warlords and corruption.

- the Middle Easteners who had enough of mullahs, thought police and meddlesome foreign governments.

Thus have we had a filtration system which has largely operated on auto-pilot for 200 years. Seems like a good recipe for a population to me.

Is it any wonder the neocons are having a hard time controlling us?

Nice article. I certainly agree with the Howard as a 'cultural imperialist' remark. I can think of a few posters here, actually, who fit that title.

I remember reading somewhere that the wealthier a country is, generally speaking, the more conservative it's politics tend to be. It definately seems to be the case in Australia at the moment, we have lots of privelege and ...stuff, and conservatism (individualism, privatisation of everything, destruction of public services, not letting any foreigners in on the deal) seems to be the best way to keep a tight grasp that wealth.

Just a passing thought, but it seems to me like an ever swelling bubble..the bigger it gets, the more fragile it becomes..

Multiculturalism is more like a trojan horse computer virus than an wonderful achievement that makes us all proud. Fabian socialism is like a trojan horse come to think of it. Speaking for myself the whole concept is embarrassing, and unAustralian. Multiculturalism is not distinctly Australian, it is an idea copied from Canada!

Why the hell do people advocate the decline of Anglo/European culture in this country when clearly, that is what stabilises the country? Why would you excitedely anticipate greater middle eastern and asian influence in this country? Is it possible that the views of our Asian neighbours mights be biased and laced with self interest?

Pathetic article.

I can think of one group here in Australia that does threaten the stability of our country, namely Hizb ut Tahrir.

I cant see this group being very multicultural - so why should we?!

Meanwhile, the Serbs are still fighting with the Croats.

Multiculturalism is a bit of a misnomer. Australia's experience is more like generational assimilation. 'Bring your food but leave your baggage behind'. This is a trend that multiculturalism seeks to change.

Each wave of migrants to this continent had some impact on the prevailing culture, but it was often short lived. In the 80 years from 1788 to 1868 when WA ceased the practice, only 160,000 convicts came to the Colonies - that's an average of 2,000 a year - only a small proportion of total migration.

The primary role of migration was to provide labour for growing industries. In the early days, there was a sufficient surplus of labour from countries with similar language and culture (UK and Ireland), but as this ran out, the capitilists had to look further afield for their labour - war ravaged Europe, where culture and languages were not too disimilar. Eventually this source started to run out, and the capitalist became more desperate, turning to non-european cultures, formulating extreme right policies such as multiculturalism to justify, fool, and placate the left.

The question that we must ask is whether there is continued benefit for a policy of migration, or whether too much strain is being placed upon our environment and infrastructure.