Mikk,
Does lying about the past count as a cultural pursuit?
This racially homogeneous patriarchal society you hate so much was producing wonderful art, philosophy and literature and bounding ahead in science, medicine and industrial processing.
Never mind also that the 1950's was a "golden age" for the Left, that almost all workers were in unions, that political parties had tens of thousands of members in each state and debating and political activism were respectable pursuits.
Look at Australia now, backward,intellectually stunted, wracked by division and inequality, a society where no debate or discussion is possible outside the narrow confines of political correctness.
Do you know why this is? Non Europeans lack the intelligence to contribute to much less advance a society,any society. When you replace 20% of the population with dumb people from the Third World and make their level of thinking and capabilities the baseline for all public policy then your society goes backward.
I know maths is hard for Lefties but even you would know the term "lowest common denominator".

SteeleRedux "a Vietnamese friend whom I committed to give English lessons to"

And why was that necessary?
Shouldn't you have learnt Vietnamese instead? White supremacist!

It's necessary because no human society can function without a common language.
It is what we *share*, not what differs, that makes any human society possible.

But can we "share" *everything*?
Then we end up having no defining elements ourselves.

Panculturalism (its true title) is an impossible utopian fantasy.

Our "great success story" is a temporary reprieve, sustained only by the momentum of history and the still overwhelming White Australian population.

Like a car with an empty tank, we still move forward only because of past momentum.

And with 80% non-White immigration, you're filling an unleaded tank with diesel.
Good luck!

"look past their fearful natures"

Why shouldn't we fear the absurd social chaos of a society with *no defining character* of its own?

Foxy, "whose democratic beliefs I share".

And where was the "democracy" in changing our immigration policy to include any and every ethnicity?
There's over 6000 of them, you know.

It was imposed from above. Not the people's will.

"But there is not a separate stream of law derived from religious sources that competes with or supplants Australian law"

I'm afraid there is, for religious fanatics.
And that is a "big problem".

sonofgloin "Keep Australia modern and forward thinking suits better."

Any policy restricted to advanced "modern" societies (e.g. Very High Human Development Index) will still be predominantly White, and therefore howled into oblivion by the anti-waysist (sic) activists and media.

mikk, all cultures are internally complex and evolve over time.
That's not what's being referred to by "multiculturalism".

The real 1950s included Brando, Bardot and the bossa nova.
All were popular.

"Chinatown is a vibrant and thriving "ghetto""

Actually, Chinatowns in many Western cities have been reported to be "in decline" for years now.

They are as fossilised and phoney as your imaginary 1950s.

Foxy,

You don't seem to understand that there are some who object to Australia's laws. This does make them "un Australian" as some might say.

For example in one case a Jehovah's Witness child (I've never been involved with this group) was forced to undertake a blood transfusion by an Australian court judge. This child had a medical condition - but the parents objected and were taken to court by the public health sector. The parents were very upset about losing the case, with lawyers fees written off. I felt it was a violation of the parents rights to raise their children.

Cases also involve refugees and asylum seekers. People recently protested on this matter in the office of Jamie Briggs MP, were arrested upon the closure of the office when they refused to leave.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-24/immigration-protest-held-by-religious-leaders-at-jamie-briggs-e/5545850

In terms of being vegetarian I'm an animal rights advocate and support groups that have pushed for change.

Based on what you have said we "have" to accept "law" - we do not and should not - or we let governments invade people's basic freedoms - in terms of human rights, but at the same time we see Australia have a populist Labor/Liberal dominated society with no policy leadership.

To balance that out however, we must realise life isn't just about laws.

OK I,ll put the cat among the pigeons.

Australia is NOT multicultural, never has been and, I hope, never will be. It simply is a term Al Grasseby imported from Canada which means many cultures. It is a misnomer.

We are a multi-racial society and have been since 1788, but we are mono-cultural and our culture is based on the UK social structure with the Westminster system, basically, of governance. The only aspects of other cultures that we allow are those aspects that fit in with our existing culture. Simply put, we allow some aspects of some cultures, not even one other complete culture.

The foundations of our government, Federal, State and Local, are derived from the UK, as is our defence forces, police, education, medical and other professions. Our social norms are mainly from the UK.

Try harpooning a whale or having a dolphin muster and see what happens, or even a barby with rover on the spit. Organize a bull fight and you will go to court, for even having a cockfight.

Polygamy is illegal but we let some silly fools get away with it as long as it is not registered. We also turn a blind eye to FGM and forced and underage marriages. Shows we put cruelty to roosters before cruelty to little girls.

No, we do not allow aspects of other cultures that are different to ours, but it is changing. There are some who are preposing Sharia law so you may soon be able to stone an adulterous wife and murder your daughter for her dishonour of falling in love with a bloke of a different caste. How about your wife needing your permission to leave the house!

We will need a few of these types of things before one can say we are multicultural.

Banjo,
You're right about Australia always being multi racial and monocultural.
The problem for the Left is that the people flooding in from the third world don't share their views on "social justice", the environment, homosexuality, women's liberties etc.
At the moment not too many of these people vote or are involved in politics but that'll change in a few years, what are the Left and the Neo-Communists who head the protestant churches going to do when there's a widely supported campaign to outlaw homosexuality or abortion?
The elites and their bourgeoisie will support Fascist and Islamist groups if it suits their objective, as they do in Syria, Nigeria and Ukraine,(the so called Obama Death Squads) the "social justice" crowd can ignore what their ideologues say but they can't un-say it for them.

Dear Nathan,

Of course life isn't just about laws.

A tolerance of criticism and of dissenting opinions is
fundamental to democracy. However a democracy is most
likely to survive in a society in which there is a
general consensus on basic values and a widespread
commitment to the existing political order.