In addition to investigating and making recommendations to confront antisemitism, the Royal Commission established by the Commonwealth Labor government is also investigating social cohesion.
Prime Minister Albanese stresses the importance of social cohesion to the health and stability of the nation when arguing the ALP government is committed to fostering unity where all are committed to the essential values, beliefs, institutions, and way of life that make Australia unique.
Words are cheap and based on actions it’s obvious the Albanese government cannot be believed. Instead of unifying the nation by ensuring a commitment to Australia as a Western, liberal democracy underpinned by the ongoing heritage to Western Civilisation and Judeo-Christianity – the opposite is the case.
While multiculturalism as government policy can be traced back to the Whitlam government and the time Malcolm Fraser was Prime Minister, under the current ALP government multiculturalism has been turbocharged.
Originally introduced as a measure to respect and tolerate the cultural beliefs and values of recent arrivals to these shores, multiculturalism has since morphed into a many-headed hydra undermining Australia’s social fabric and way of life.
Multiculturalism (aka promoting diversity and difference) by definition leads to cultural relativism where it is impossible to argue some cultural beliefs and customs are foreign to Australia’s mainstream culture.
We are a Western, liberal democracy nourished and underpinned by Western Civilisation and Christianity. Two books that arrived with the First Fleet in 1788 are the King James Bible and Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England.
Australia’s foundation story is inspired by Christianity – not Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, or Sikhism. As argued by Larry Siedentop in Inventing the Individual The Origins of Western Liberalism it is the New Testament that tells us, as all are made in God’s image, all have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Christianity teaches, ‘There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.’ The Bible teaches love is the greatest commandment and in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus argues blessed are the peacemakers and blessed are the merciful.
Christianity is still Australia’s largest religion, and it continues to have a profound impact on our language, art, literature, and way of life. While not always perfect it is a common law system inherited from the United Kingdom that ensures concepts like innocence until proven guilty, trial by one’s peers, and protection against unlawful imprisonment.
Democracy as a concept and Australia’s Westminster-inspired parliamentary system characterised by popular sovereignty, separation of powers, one person one vote, and regular elections can be traced back to the UK and before then to ancient Greece.
The unique nature of the nation’s heritage explains why since the end of the second world war so many have chosen Australia as a refuge to escape the violence, poverty, and sectarianism bedevilling much of the rest of the world.
It is equally true that those post-war migrants from the UK and Europe, especially Italy and Greece, share a common heritage that has ensured, while many are proud of their ancestry, that they have assimilated and become part of what Tony Abbott calls team Australia.
While the overwhelming majority of migrants settling in Australia are willing to abide and live by Australia’s mainstream beliefs and values, it is clear there are those all too willing to import old-world prejudices and hatred.
This was illustrated during the celebration of the death and rape of Jews by Hamas terrorists in October 2023 where some Muslims stood on the steps of the Opera House shouting antisemitic slogans. There is also the fear expressed by Jewish students on university campuses. It’s obvious, in my opinion, there are some people living in Australia who do not belong here.
The growing incidence of child brides and female circumcision, along with machete gangs appearing in Melbourne, also suggests endorsing multiculturalism has failed. Even worse is that the violence, hatred and prejudice associated with promoting diversity and difference is leading to the rise of extreme far-right activism.
While Pauline Hanson’s idea of monoculturalism is not the answer to Australia’s increasing fragmentation and ethnic, racial, and religious intolerance, exemplified by the scourge of antisemitism, neither is repeating the mantra Australia is a multicultural society.
Instead of cultural relativism where all cultures are treated equally it is time to acknowledge and defend Australia as a Western liberal democracy whose institutions, language and way of life are underpinned and nourished by Western Civilisation and Christianity.
To do otherwise, proven by the social dislocation, violence and instability experienced in the UK and Europe as a result of indiscriminate immigration and failure to champion the West’s mainstream culture, is to invite social dislocation and becoming a nation of ethnic ghettos and tribes.
Dr Kevin Donnelly is the author of Wake Up To Woke.
