Dear Zorka,

Australia's cultural diversity is a strength
which makes for a dynamic society. Within a
framework of laws, all Australians have the
right to express their culture and beliefs.
May you be happy in this country that you've
chosen as your new home. And may the contribution
that you make be valued. No one should feel disempowered
by having their identity devalued. That is the
opposite of the democratic principle of equality and the
right of all people to be treated fairly.

I wish you All The Best.

Zorka,
Refugees are those our government has selected on the basis of need and we bring them here at our expense.

Asylum seekers is another name for illegal entrants. They are not looked on favourably by most Australians because they get here by buying their way, bribery and deceit. Firstly they fly to Malaysia (usually) then on to Indonesia. From there they pay far more than the air fare to enter without a visa, on a boat. They then deceive our officials with stories they have been coached in and any travel documents they may have had are destroyed beforehand. This is done to deliberately make it difficult for us to determine their bona fides. Most Australians believe we are being conned in this regard. Their object is to secure permanent residence for themselves and once that is obtained they can then bring the rest of their family here under the family reunion provissions.

Immigration.
There are some people who claim we are a multicultural county. I dissagree with that. I say we are a multi-racial country that allows the practice of some cultural aspects of some other cultures. You will notice that the basic foundations of our society, such as governance, defence, police, education, health system and our social standards generally, are all derived from the UK.

I cannot find one other culture that we wholly accept and we do not make specific provission for other cultures in law. For example polygamy, forced marriage, male dominance and the consumption of some foods are against our laws.

It is my belief that we should reduce our immigration to zero net and that we should discriminate on immigration, not allowing those groups that have demonstrated they cannot/wil not integrate. The reason for this is to prevent conflict and enhance social cohesion.

Changes need to be made to our immigration policy

Dear Zorka,

Contemporary expressions on Asylum seekers which have
emerged in recent years relate to notions of nationhood
which are seen as incompatible with diversity. These
beliefs may be expressed in various stereotyped views
of who the "real" Australians are. This form of thinking
is based on an ideology of national culture in which
minority cultures are regarded as "alien" and a threat
to social cohesion. They consist of pervasive cultural
assumptions where the customes and beliefs of the dominant
group in society are presented as the norm.

As a result, the status and behaviour of minority groups,
particularly those who are more visibly different, are
defined and judged with respect to the dominant group of
largely British and Celtic backgrounds.

These attitdues are widely discussed in the media where
they are presented as reasonable and commonsense and
reflected through media images that do not accurately
portray Australia's cultural diversity. In this way,
these ideologies are expressed and reinforced through a
process of group interaction and thereby absorbed into
popular culture.

Perhaps with time and education things may change. However,
its best to remember that in Australia up until recent years
these policies and practices were also embedded within
Australian laws and institutions and were inextricably
linked to the history of colonisation and migration in this
country. Prejudice and discrimination have been directed
towards many groups who arrived in Australia, in particular
towards groups from language backgrounds other than English,
despite the fact that many government migration schemes
invited people to settle in Australia.

Asylum seekers have a legal right to be in Australia. Australia
is a signatory to accept asylum seekers. And each must be
assessed according to the law.

Asylum seekers have a legal right to be in Australia.
Lexi,
You'll get no argument from anyone on this. You will however, get opposition aplenty for people using asylum as a smoke screen to invade Australia in exactly the same way Europe was invaded. We must help people in need , no question about it but we also must be extremely vigilant with those who are not but claim to be refugees. The simplest comparison is the drug situation. They'll try ANYTHING to hoodwink our authorities & by golly they find every loophole. It's of no use to just feel sorry for someone rolling up in a beat up old boat crying poor. I could do that too, as could anyone. We must put Australia's security first.

I reasonably I think am they.
So will expand on my thoughts,here in OLO we are a bit short on folk like me,working class blue collar workers.
Not known for PC use,and at my age almost never.
I picked the welfare from another crime story,a dreadful act beyond humanity.
12 kids never worked claims of possession of gold ,selling drugs criminals visiting, not your average home.
Those blue collar workers, call us what you want to.
We are Greek Italian Maltese,you name it that is us,well it was our fathers and mothers our grand parents.
We are still proud of our two homes.
Belly the old convict, had folk who came before us, in chains.
But he knows us we know him, we all share OUR country.
And we share, do we not Banjo? the fears that we are putting gravel in our Christmas pudding and calling it Cherry's in an effort to?
Look nice or blind our self?
I challenge for ever THE VIEW integration should have been replaced by MC.

When people ask, "Do you believe Australia should
become a multi-cultural society?" I always reply:

"It doesn't matter what you or I think, I can tell
you what it is, which is a society of tremendous
diversity."

In some schools, 90 percent of the students speak a
language other than English as their first language.
But many schools do not take this into account and
still emphasize teaching about Australia's ties with
England and the Commonwealth...

What exactly does integration mean? If it means devaluing
someone's identity - that's not on. Attitudes that were
common at the end of the nineteenth century are no longer
acceptable one hundred years later.

Anyway, as I stated earlier - although Australian
legislation relating to many aspects of behaviour makes
discrimination unlawful in several contexts, legilsation
of course cannot address the underlying social issues.
Education together with effective legislation provides
the best hope for developing a fairer and better society.