Multiculturalism – what the figures really mean

He said that brewing up racist discontent had its own special recipe. "Start with a cup of rhetoric about how 'those people' with their 'strange customs' are different from 'us'. Add a spoon of envy about how those outsiders always seem to get better treatment than 'ordinary Australians'. And for good measure, dash in a suggestion that they could be happier if they just went home where they came from.

"Then give the pot a good stir and let it simmer until it's hot enough to serve up to some unsuspecting racial minority."

Mr Leigh quoted economist Ed Glaeser's theory that racial hatred targets can be predicted at the point when they reach a critical mass. Thus according to Dr Glaeser, Australians of Italian background would be too large and well-established a group to attack – they are likely to fight back; on the other hand the numbers of say, Luxembourg-Australians are too insignificant for anyone to get fired up about them, but Australians of Middle Eastern background are currently just about right.

Muslims form about one per cent of the population, which means that many people have had little or no everyday contact with them – nothing to counter the all-pervading images of terror and conflict that fill the television channels and newspapers.

Opponents have made much of overseas attacks on multiculturalism and especially of comments by German Chancellor Angela Merkel that her country's attempts to create a multicultural society had 'failed totally' and that immigration had 'weighed down our social system'.

German multiculturalism was doomed from the beginning. In fact it hardly deserved the name, driven by commercial demands for cheap, plentiful labour. The 'guest worker' program that began in the early 1960s fuelled the German economic miracle without any plans for how the newcomers, overwhelmingly from Turkey, could fit into society. It was a recipe for ghettoes, exclusion, alienation and unrest - which is exactly what has happened.

Multiculturalism did not fail Germany – Germany failed multiculturalism.

The United Kingdom went close to repeating the German fiasco, and there are still prominent sections of society, including Prime Minister David Cameron, who blame the radicalisation of a tiny fraction of British Muslim youth on past policies of multiculturalism. Instead, almost in spite of themselves, most Britons have come to terms with a multi-racial, multi-ethnic society, and despite the best efforts of some well-funded far right organisations - and warnings of dire consequences that go back to Enoch Powell's infamous 'rivers of blood' speech more than 40 years ago – anti-immigration parties remain on the fringe of political life there.

So I am going to maintain my belief that Australia, and especially Canberra, will continue to be an example of how, when properly handled by enlightened leaders, multiculturalism can not only work, but be a solid foundation for a harmonious society.