Economic hardship and "diversity" don't mix

From TheRealists.com.au:

Economic hardship and Joys of Multiculturalism don’t mix

October 14th, 2008

Over the course of the past few decades the face Australia’s largest cities have changed quite dramatically. For example, from being mostly homogeneous back in the 1970’s (before the word ‘Multiculturalism’ existed), now over 1 in 3 people residing in Sydney today were born somewhere other than Australia.

*snip*

Many people hold Australia up as a shining example of ‘how multiculturalism should be done’ (It’s ironic that the supporters of multiculturalism have to search for places in the world where the effects of multiculturalism haven’t been devastating in order for them to claim that multiculturalism is the panacea to all of societies ills). It has been quite fortuitous that during the time of historically high levels of immigration Australia’s economy has grown quite strongly.

The Howard government began the large increases in immigration in 1998 (from a level of 82,000 in Paul Keating’s final year in office to 159,000 in Howard’s last year in office). Kevin Rudd has taken the baton and ran with it, increasing immigration to a staggering 190,000, more people coming to this country than the number of children being born in Australia.

During these times economic conditions have been good and there has been little disquiet about the levels of immigration. After all, we were all getting rich, why not share the wealth?

Sure, there were racially motivated gang rapes, sure we had race riots; and so what if some traditional white families were fleeing suburbs where immigrants were settling? Things were going along great, house prices and the share market were rising, everyone had a job; why complain when things are good?

However, when things are good and everyone is ‘comfortable and relaxed’ and we still have race riots, what could occur if unemployment really starts to rise?

How much community spirit would there be in our wonderful multicultural suburbs if, as has occurred in places like Iceland, people are so scared that they start hoarding food?

Will the great spirit of Aussie mateship shine through if people are doing it tough, when communities really have to band together in order to see the tough times through?

If the experience of other countries is anything to go by then nobody can say for certain what will eventuate in Australia. It’s a gamble that successive governments have chosen to take on behalf of the Australian people.

Hopefully luck will stay with us.

Original article