What a load of rubbish strayan.

I said... " I prefer encouraging cultural unity. A nation should be united... not divided. Division does not strengthen a society. "

What you said has no relevance to it, whatsoever.

Strayan from the truth eh...?

Speaking of which... here's some more Austrayan.

Language is one of the most recognisable cultural traits of Australians. No one here would mistake an Indian accent for an Australian accent or an American accent. In fact when "Mad Max" was made it had to be dubbed for American release, apparently they found it too hard to understand left in Australian English. Not only do Australians speak with an accent readily distinguishable from those not from Australia (even if they are unaware of it), they also have their own dialect/slang - STRINE.

Some examples;
(Most adult Australians probably use or recognise these)
Argue the toss disagree; dispute a decision.
Arvo afternoon
Barbie barbecue
Be with you in a tick attend to you shortly, in a moment, without delay.
Chokkie chocolate
Chook a chicken
Chuck a sickie take the day off from work when you're well
Digger an Australian soldier
Dinkum, fair dinkum true, real, genuine e.g. I'm a dinkum Aussie; is she/he fair dinkum?
Galah fool
Give it a burl try it, have a go
Jackaroo a male station hand , an Australian cowboy (a station is a big farm or grazing property)
Joey baby kangaroo
Lend of, to have a to take advantage of somebody's gullibility, to have someone on
Lizard drinking, flat out like a very busy
Mate buddy, friend
No-hoper somebody who'll never do well
Not the full quid not bright intellectually
No worries Expression of forgiveness or reassurance (usually the response of someone who can't see the implications of a situtation)
Ocker an unsophisticated person; an Australian
Pash a long passionate kiss
Pav Pavlova, Australian dessert using meringue, cream and fruit
Piker Someone who doesn't have a go at things, cowardly
Stickybeak nosy person
Strewth exclamation, mild oath
Walkabout gone on a trip or unable to be found
Yobbo an uncouth perso

Yep, I can go along with that T800. Well said.

“Multiculturalism encourages cultural diversity, I prefer encouraging cultural unity. A nation should be united... not divided. Division does not strengthen a society.”

Multiculture encourages tribalism. Multiculture is the most contemptuous ideology that can be forcibly shoved on a people.
But I agree with those who say our main identity was forged from our beginnings.Anyone who has read British history will appreciate that the harshness of the eighteenth century with it's enclosures etc made criminals out of decent men.
Not that all convicts were innocent little bods. But their children, the currency kids, were born free and independant.after a shakey start this nation has gone from strength to strength but it needs migrants who will carry that strength on, not migrants who want to take it back to the dark ages.
That is where the immigration people have let this country down, by bringing in unsuitable new comers who will never understand where we came from and who we are.

Sport has been a central part of the Australian experience since the country was first colonised. More than the Arts and other "high - culture" endevours Sport is a major part of the Australians ethos. Sport is culture, and nowhere more so than in Australia

The following excerpts from the SMH...

"The historian Manning Clark, for instance, regarded Australian football as the ballet of the working class. "

"The Melbourne Cup, for instance, is more than a horse race."

"It is an occasion for celebration and even excess; it is a gambling spectacle that incorporates the Australian myth of egalitarianism; it is a national festival that is idiosyncratically Australian. "

"Sport has long played an important social and cultural role in Australia, providing a form of social cement which binds communities and creates broader imagined communities. "

Remember the America's Cup in 1983? What other country has had their Prime Minister say; "I tell you what, any boss who sacks anyone for not turning up today is a bum". What other country has as it's Prime Minister a die-hard Cricket tragic?

More quotes...

"I think you are maybe the most sporting country in the world"
Juan Antoino Samaranch, Sunday Telegraph, 1999

"At the time of writing, Australia (with a population of eighteen million, remember) are world cricket champions, world Rugby Champions, world tennis champions, work netball champions, world woman's hockey champions, and world men and women surfing champions. Further, on per capita basis, Australia was by far the most outstanding performer at the 1996 Olympic Games."
Phillip Knightley, Australia: A Biography of a Nation, 2000

"Australia pretty generally beats most people at most things. Truly never has there been a more sporting nation. "
Bill Bryson, Down Under, 2000

"Failure hurts Australians particularly hard because they take sport so seriously. To Australians, sport is not just something they play in their spare time, but it is the medium through which they have to prove themselves to the rest of the world. As DH Lawrence observed "Australians play sport as though their lives depended on it"
Jonathan King, Waltzing Materialism, 1976

T800,

I'm with you. As I have said elsewhere, if multiculturalism is so good, why, after almost half a century, are we still arguing about it?

The silliest thing heard is that diverstiy is our strength. How odd! How can splitting people up into different cultures bring strength? The more alike people are, the more they get along with each other.

We have always been a multi-RACIAL society, and their is nothing wrong with that. But, there is also an Australian culture, and there has been ever since white people settled the country.

Arguments for multiculturalism move simply move around superficial, meaningless things such as cuisine and colourful streetscapes as as different people from all over the world drift around, enjoying life on the Australian dole.

This stupidity was forced on us; but they cannot force us to believe in it. Multiculturalism is 'enjoyed' by a small minority of people. Most of us ignore it, and it doesn't touch our lives - unless we allow it to.

I am with Strayan on this one.
What is wrong about Australia reflecting the many interesting cultures of the different races and ethnicities?
Why pour everybody into the same culture mould to shape them to one model?

As long as everyone living in Australia abides by Australian laws, what’s wrong with accepting and enjoying each other’s backgrounds?

Perhaps ‘we’ are still arguing about multiculturalism because some people are unwilling to relax about it and accept it!

The problems we have with multi-culturalism are not because of multi-culturalism, but because of the bad image some ‘Australian’ people have of other cultures.
Is it an Australian value to carry around a bad image about other cultures?

Change the bad image and the problem of 'still arguing about it' will disappear.

There is a whole lot more wrong with intolerance than there is with multi-culturalism.

I would think that it is not only time to move on from mono-culturism to multi-culturism, but take it even further into inter-culturism.