Kevin Donnelly
Dr Kevin Donnelly is an Australian-based education author and commentator. In 2014 he co-chaired the review of the Australian national curriculum.
Preamble – given the Jewish deaths and injuries at Sydney’s Bondi beach, there is an even more urgent need to ensure all who live in Australia respect individual freedom and liberty. There is no place for antisemitism, hatred and terrorism. The Albanese Australian government must do more to fight against antisemitism. It’s time to ensure all who live here abide by our peaceful and tolerant beliefs and morals.
The latest Resolve survey published in the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald found 64 per cent agreed immigration should be paused until the housing crisis was addressed and 54 per cent only want migrants who speak English and who are from countries with similar laws and customs.
In the same way that the 60/40 vote against the Indigenous Voice to parliament represents a victory for what Scott Morrison termed the “quiet Australians” after winning the 2019 federal election, the Resolve survey also represents a significant cultural change.
While the inner-city, university-educated, cosmopolitan elites, who Roger Scruton in his book Where We Are describes as those suffering from ‘oikophobia’ or fear of place, embrace multiculturalism, more and more Australians want to affirm a sense of community and national cohesion, stability and pride.
Similar to the 2016 UK Brexit vote to leave the European Union, the success of centre-right parties in Italy, Finland, Hungary and the Czech Republic and President Trump’s re-election makes it clear that voting sentiment is changing.
Whether opposing multiculturalism and unchecked immigration in favour of national identity and pride, rejecting neo-Marxist inspired gender and sexuality theories, especially transgenderism, or refusing to accept climate alarmism, citizens are saying ‘enough is enough’.
The dramatic increase in the popularity of Pauline Hanson’s centre-right One Nation Party, now at 12 per cent according to the Resolve survey, and the move by the Liberal/National coalition to forsake Net Zero by 2050 are also evidence citizens are fed up with cultural-left ideology.
Such is the momentum against political correctness that any who dare to question the prevailing centre-left orthodoxy face condemnation and abuse. Camille Paglia, given the extreme nature of such abuse, writes we are living in a time when “intolerance masquerades as tolerance and where individual liberty is crushed by the tyranny of the group”.
Any who question immigration and multiculturalism are especially targeted. Given the rate and nature of the nation’s immigration programme, the Liberal MP Andrew Hastie argued Australians were in danger of becoming “strangers in our own home”. Such a comment, critics suggested, hearkened back to the British white supremacist Enoch Powell’s ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech.
Ignored is that Roger Scruton and Douglas Murray express a similar sentiment to Hastie when arguing parts of the UK are now ethnic ghettos and, as a result, Britain is losing its long-held cultural identity. Both Angela Merkel when Germany’s chancellor and David Cameron when British prime minister are also on the record expressing fears about unchecked immigration and multiculturalism.
Cameron, when arguing in favour of “muscular liberalism”, goes as far as arguing those seeking to settle in the UK must live by the nation’s values, described as, “Freedom of speech, freedom of worship, democracy, the rule of law, equal rights regardless of race, sex or sexuality… this is what defines us as a society.”
Hastie is not the first to suffer such acrimony. The eminent historian Geoffrey Blainey, after questioning the rate of Asian immigration, was forced to resign from his position at the University of Melbourne. John Howard, while leader of the opposition, was also condemned for questioning the rate of Asian immigration.
In addition to the Resolve survey previously mentioned, additional evidence that more and more Australians are anxious and concerned about unchecked immigration and its impact on national stability and cohesion are the March for Australia national rallies held last August and October.
Once again critics, instead of addressing the issue dispassionately, resort to abuse. The Australian Labour Party’s (ALP) Minister for Multicultural Affairs Dr Anne Aly condemns the marches as an example of “far-fight activism grounded in racism and ethnocentrism (that) has no place in modern Australia”.
It’s ironic that the ALP Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke condemns those marching for seeking to “divide and undermine our social cohesion”. Anyone who has visited Melbourne’s Box Hill or Sydney’s Lakemba would appreciate that such suburbs no longer reflect the broader Australian community.
There’s no doubt unchecked immigration and the fact so many immigrants flock to the nation’s already overcrowded cities is placing undue strain on housing and infrastructure. At the same time, it’s vital to acknowledge the impact of immigration on Australia’s sense of national cohesion, stability and pride.
Scruton argues the most pressing political issue of our time is the “question of identity: who are we, where are we, and what holds us together in a shared political order”. It’s time for the leader of the Liberal Party Sussan Ley to lead the debate and assuage the anxiety and concerns of the increasing number of voters fearful of unchecked immigration.
There’s nothing xenophobic or racist about favouring national stability and cohesion and ensuring all those who come to live in Australia accept and live by the values and beliefs that make it such a unique country. A Western, liberal democracy where our institutions and way of life make Australia such a sought after place to migrate to and start a new life.
This article was originally published by the Daily Sceptic.
