Belly,
Yes, I too recall those days. I think Melbourne had the biggest Greek population outside of Athens. Some did go back and marry greek girls and some stayed there and some brought their brides back. But many did marry Aussie girls and all integrated. As did Italians and other european migrants. There was not the false and flawed ideology of Multiculturalism then.

When MC was forced upon us, the immigrants were told they could carry on just like in the old country and it was up to us to adapt to their ways. According to some, we had no culture at all.

MC has failed because it divides us into groups instead of promoting one community. We need to promote integration at all levels if we want an harmonous society, where all have the same rights and responsibilities. Some migrants find it harder to adapt than others, but we have to be steadfast in our basic social standards and not accept alien practices, like forced marriage.

Dear Banjo,

You wrote: "When MC was forced upon us, the immigrants were told they could carry on just like in the old country and it was up to us to adapt to their ways."

I am an immigrant to Australia and became a citizen after multiculturalism became policy. I was told no such thing. When I became a citizen I agreed to obey the laws of Australia. The two forms of the citizen's pledge follow. One includes God and the other doesn't.

Pledge 1

From this time forward, under God,
I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people,
whose democratic beliefs I share,
whose rights and liberties I respect, and
whose laws I will uphold and obey.

Pledge 2

From this time forward
I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people,
whose democratic beliefs I share,
whose rights and liberties I respect, and
whose laws I will uphold and obey.

Both pledges include a promise to obey the laws of Australia. Multiculturalism or not forced marriage and female genital mutilation are against the laws in Australia. Immigrants are not told they can carry on as they did in the old country

Dear Banjo,

The article was about a young man being forced into marriage and being Indian there was a fair chance he wasn't Muslim. Yet you spoke of “a young woman forced by family to marry a much older man to settle a debt or because she was promised by her parents.”

Shameless!

You also wrote that “Given the number of immigrants arriving here from many countries I am sure there would be many more forced marriages if they could be uncovered.”

Well they are well known.

“http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/an-estimated-1000-cases-of-forced-marriage-a-year-in-australia/story-fndo48ca-1226529937974”

I will wager a large proportion involve white, bitter males on the sad side of middle age, you know the type we discussed them earlier, who get into the Asian bride market. About 20 years ago one poor little thing turned up on my sister-in-laws doorstep in country Victoria, beaten, half naked and in real distress. Her well over middle aged 'husband' came and dragged her away. My sister-in-law's husband was pretty old school and just closed the door, of course he was over tens years her senior.

But you find just one case of it involving a immigrant couple and straight away you launch into polygamy, FGM, alien practices, and slamming multiculturalism.

Sorry, I think this time I need capitals.

Poison Peddler!

davis f,
Firstly, MC has nothing to do with citizenship. MC was a policy, introduced by Al Grassby when Whitlam was PM and futher expanded by Frasser PM.

The ideology was that people of all cultures could come together and live in peacefull harmony. Yet what happened was that various cultures were contesting with each other to see who could get the biggest share of the funds being handed out by both State and Federal governments. It certainly did not stop the Croats and Serb from brawling and not did it stop the Lebs from hating everybody else. Each government dept. had to adopt a policy of MC and implement it. We wasted millions of dollars on the cultural activities.

Various ethnic groups were encouraged to act out their own culture, with the support of community liason officers whos salaries came frome our governments funds.

We were told it would 'enrich' our society, so I expect we should be gratefull that the girls that were gang raped in about 2000 were part of the 'enrichment process'. They got it the Leb way.

Forced marriages, FGM, polygamy, dog fighting, cock fighting and Croats and Serbs brawling are examples of unintended consequences of ill thought out policy. It is what happens when ideology is put before practicality.

Yet the stupid part is we are still stuck with a non discriminatory immigration policy and thus still importing persons from groups that have clearly shown they cannot or will not integrate.

Banjo said; "Paul, You make me laugh, not with you but at you."

Banjo as the old conservative that you are I'm surprised that you would be able to raise a chuckle. surly a laugh would be beyond you in your world of yesteryear where wild bush horses roam. Should I feel the pain of rejection from Banjo, a sad individual living in a world of hate for others that he doesn't understand and never will. People that are seen as a threat to his miserable existence.
Csteele; I've known of plenty of Aussie girls who being "up the duff" were quickly made "marry the boy" to save the good mane of the family. Well it was that or a forced backyard abortion. That was Australia not so long ago. Something Banjo didn't put to poetry.

csteele,
What you need is a reality check. I said nothing about the actual case or religon. I do not care what religon or ethnicity the plaintiffs are. The fact is that it was the first such case in our courts. In your link, the estimate put by Minister Goward is the same as I concluded by going on UK figures. This is about 1000 forced marriages per year.

It is a bit sad that you do not recognise forced marriage as an alien cultural practice. As I said i feel very sorry for the girls that are forced to marry an older man to settle a debt or for some other advantage to the family. Like polygamy and FGM it is againts our laws and this is where the commonality lies. There are other alien cultural practices we also have to guard against. All the result of the flawed MC ideology.

A few years ago, there were 3 seperate matters where our consular staff were approached for help, in some Middle Eastern country, by girls that had been sent on 'holidy' to the old country and on arrival they found they were expected to marry some blokes as arranged by the family. They objected and I believe our officials gave them assistance back to Aus. One wonders how many girls have gone along under family presure in that circumstance.

So forced marriage is difficult to uncover unless one of the parties really digs their heels in and objects. What is needed here is widespread publicity showing where help can be obtained. I know minister Goward was considering using the social networks for this purpose.