Parisito,
An answer for you :
My father & mother-in-law have never worked a day in Australia, yet a few short years after arriving they obtained public housing, discount travel on public transport, a pension & medical benefits.
Where do you think the money for that lot came from ?

( Incidentally, they also maintain a 3 bedroom unit overseas -and a foreign pension which is deposited & stays in their overseas bank a/c

Has 'multiculturalism' become a dirty word? Yes, among people of limited intelligence and lots of transferred self-loathing. To them it means something dirty, and they won't give up until they have convinced themselves that's it's a pinko/leftist/ABC/Fairfax/union/Muslim/feminist/gay/green/chardonnay swilling/latte sipping/humanities lecturers'/Marxist/state school teachers'/ Howard-Haters' conspiracy.

They fear and despise 'multiculturalism' but have no mind to understand what it is they fear and despise. Their minds are locked in neutral. They hate 'multiculturalism' so much that they worry about catching the mc virus. It's an evil so dangerous that even to read about it might lead to eternal damnation.

We could substitute the simple words 'cultural democracy'. But I doubt that would help the feeble minded. They will accept nothing less than white British 'Christian' supremacism as the dominant ideology in Howard's paradise.

Yes, of course I now expect the hate mail to come flooding in from the self-appointed, self-righteous cultural warriors. I can hear their brains rattling even now.

Anyone who disagrees with Frankgol henceforth has limited intelligence.This Frank,is discrimination on the basis of your perceived weakness in others.Adolph Hitler had a similar view only his parameters of inferiority were based on race and religion.

We all discriminate and the multiculturalists have been very active in effecting their own form of illogical bias.The left have used multiculturalism for their own power plays,and thus have perverted basically honerable concept.MC is dead because of dishonesty and PC nonsense.

Yvonne,
You have done very well with your list of what I would call 'aspects of Australian culture'. Far better than I could. Our society revolves around our endeavours to be fair, courteous and giving consideration to the other person. Little things like saying please and thank you, moving aside for someone approaching, not queue jumping and letting another vehicle into a line of traffic, etc. all help to make our society liveable.

To Dronkey. Our values are not uniquely Australian, they do not have to be, but it is the combination and the emphasis that we put on certain things that set us apart from other nationalities.

MC seperated people into groups, putting their culture before that of Australia. Foreign culture was deemed more important than ours. Indeed, we were told we did not have a culture and we had to be tolerant of others even when they were not tolerant of our way of life. The fact that MC was imposed on us got the backs up for many people. MC went far beyond simnply helping newcomers settle in.

If MC was only about children in colourfull costumes, dragon parades, art and foods, beer festivals and other enjoyable events, it would be good. But many cultures carry baggage by way of often alien practices and attitudes. The host country has a right to set community standards.

As I said before MC was a social engineering experiment that has failed. You are right to say all cultures are changing continuously, but the community has to gradually decide which changes to accept and which to reject. Government imposed social changes seldom are popular.

Wow Frank, only one critique so far. Looks like your stalking-horse will have to be unsaddled and put back in the stall.

i'm not sure oz needs immigrants. importing people seems to mean that oz society is so dysfunctional that it can't reproduce itself.

and we might have too many people already, from an environmental view.

oz cuisine has benefited greatly, but sending cooks overseas on study tours would get the same effect.

so who needs multiculturism?