A Real Test of Diversity

The other people in danger from the Aussie values and English test are poorer refugees and their families, whose education was smashed by war and dislocation - the best indicator of capacity to learn another language and grasp its conceptual differences, is previous high standards of education. Its implementation would lead to a circle of vicious exclusion, disguised by language and culture but meaning race and religion.

To save Australia from this embarrassment, it may be more appropriate to develop a Diversity Test for politicians to see how much they know about the history of multiculturalism and its role in today’s Australia.  How much they know about the contribution made by the migrant communities in making Australia what it is today.

It will be interesting to find out how much the political class knows about diverse ethnic communities it represents in our parliaments.

There is a talk of developing publicly available profiles of politicians, leading up to 2007 NSW state and 2008 federal elections, based on their attitudes to multiculturalism as well as contribution or the lack thereof.

It may be fashionable to dog-whistle and appease the racist minority but time will tell if the spin politics has the guts to face much larger migrant population. There is a growing feeling among ethnic communities that the time has come to keep the politicians honest on diversity.