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The fact is that Australia is not a multicultural country. To use an analogy, it can readily be seen that a white dog, with a pink tongue and black paws, would only seriously be described as “multicoloured” by an idiot, or someone with an ulterior motive; so it is with multiculturalism: there is an ulterior motive behind the push to call Australia “multicultural”. The reasoning is that if Australia is called “multicultural” (which would imply that most Australians are everyday practitioners of foreign cultures), that the entire country will be perceived to be, as a whole, “multicultural” (no matter what the reality is); that, if this country is “multicultural”, you therefore need “multicultural policies”, that therefore you need “multiculturalism”, which will then be used to turn Australia on its head to produce a multiculturalist, internationalist society.

Australia is not a “multicultural society”, it is a monocultural society with some ethnic minority cultures at its edges, or to be more succinct, Australia is a “core-culture society”. The term “multicultural society” implies that the entirety of the society is multicultural, which is far from the truth, and is a term used in support of a political ideology. A core-cultural society is a far more accurate and truthful description of the Australian nation. Multiculturalism is not just a concept whereby first generation immigrants can keep their culture (they could’ve kept it anyway), but one which wants to ensure that immigrant cultures are passed from generation to generation, rather than anyone becoming “Australian”.

In conclusion, it can almost be said that Australia still is without a national identity. Thought it seems to have aspects that seem to point to an ?Australian? identity, the fact is that there are too many differing opinions on what this should be. It?s just going to take people agreeing on what they want to be identified as and until this happens, it?ll just have to be up to the discretion of each individual to decide. This is why an ?Australian? is considered to be a myth and thus why many people of Australia feel as if they should aspire to be citizens of the world instead. Maybe it?s not such a bad idea after all.

 Gabrielle Cary, ?The Sum of Us?, Good Weekend, 25 March 1995, pp. 30-31

 David Kent, ?Bean?s ?Anzac? and the Making of the Anzac Legend?, in Anna Rutherford and James Wieland (eds), War: Australia?s Creative Response, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1997, pp. 27-39.

 Livio and Pat Dobrez, ?Old Myths and New Delusions: Peter Weir?s Australia?, in Anna Rutherford and James Wieland (eds), War: Australia?s Creative Response, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1997, pp. 215-227.

 James Jupp, ?Immigration and National Identity: Multiculturalism?, in Geoffrey Stokes (ed), The Politics of Identity in Australia, Campbridge University Press, 1997, pp. 132-144

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