British ties becoming minority

Press, 30 August 1989, Page 21

British ties becoming minority

IN SYDNEY

Judy O'Connor

MORE THAN 20 per cent of today’s Australians were born in another country, and more than half of those have come from nonBritish countries. Because of inter-marriage, less than half of the Australian population is of pure Anglo-Celtic origin. More than 60 per cent have at least two ethnic origins. Against this rather startling demographic background, the Australian Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, recently announced a

SAust74 million Government • spending programme aimed at giving migrants a “fair go,” and hopefully, win a large swag of votes for the Federal Government in the long haul to an election, which is now likely to be in the first half of next year. Described by some as a multicultural Declaration of Independence, the programme spells out a statement of principle and makes a grand commitment to a new way of life. More than half of the money to be spent on the programme, given the flowery official name of “National Agenda for a Multicultural Australia,” will go on teaching English to migrants, and setting up methods to recognise a wider range of overseas’ qualifications. Many professional qualifications and trade skills acquired in overseas countries

are not recognised in Australia, and work in these areas is virtually impossible for migrants, without extensive retraining. According to Mr Hawke, poor English skills may be costing Australia at least sAust32oo million a year in lost time in the workplace, a figure almost beyond belief. The “agenda" also says there are about 370,000 people in Australia who cannot speak English at all.

The “agenda” also allows money for the children of migrants to le.£n their own language, as English, point-

ing out that bilingual skills in Australia are a little understood resource. Given that seven of Australia’s 10 largest export markets are non-English speaking countries, and an increasing number of tourists came from these same countries, this is a convincing argument. Similarly, the Government claims the failure to recognise some overseas qualifications (“a grievous injustice,” as Mr Hawke said) is costing Australia more than sAust2so million a year. A large portion of the “agenda” (sAust2o million) will fund an expansion of the existing ethnic television and radio network, SBS, which will give it the capacity to reach the far flung comers of the country — the Latrobe Valley, Bendigo, and Ballarat, in Victoria, Darwin in the Northern Territory, Townsville and Cairns in Queensland, and the Spencer Gulf in South Australia.

Finally, sAusts.7 million will be spent on a “major community relations programme” which, the Government says, is aimed at ensuring “ethnic diversity goes hand-in-hand with social cohesion.” In other words, an expensive public relations campaign. Mr Hawke also promised to consider the merits of introducing a Multicultural jAct, “partly in order to define both the ambit

and the limits of the policy.” He pledged that any decision to proceed with what would undoubtedly be controversial legislation, would depend on the outcome of community consultation.

Launching the programme, he took the opportunity to score some political points by criticising the Federal opposition for not publicly supporting the scheme. It was “a tragic loss” he said that bipartisanship on the issue of multiculturism “no longer exists at the Federal level.”

“It remains a great source of sadness to me that the Federal opposition is still unwilling to commit itself openly, honestly and unashamedly to a multicultural Australia, with multicultural policies,” he said.

The document also talks about “acknowledgement and recognition of the special status and place of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australian life.” Elsewhere it warns of a recent “marked increase in the public expression of race hatred, through offensive graffiti, inflammatory leaflets and posters, and even incitement to, and acts of, violence.” In a document studded with compelling and revealing statistics, the following are worth

digesting as a way of accepting the reality of today’s Australia:

• More than 20 per cent of today's Australians were born in another country, and more than half of those have come from non-British countries.

• Because of inter-marriage, less than half of the Australian population is of pure AnglioCeltic origin. More than 60 per cent have at least two ethnic origins.

• More than 300,000 people in Australia are followers of nonChristian religions, including 109,000 Muslims.

• Immigrants from non-Eng-lish speaking backgrounds are generally more likely to take up citizenship than other overseasborn residents.

• More than two million people living in Australia speak a language other than English at home. Fewer than 20 per cent of school children, however, study a language other than English at school.

• Aboriginals are six times more likely to be unemployed than non-Aboriginals, and unemployment among Lebanese, Turkish and Vietnamese migrants is three to four times the national average.