Cultural diversity research paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Cultural diversity research paper - Essay Example This has resulted mainly due to a lot of pressure under exerted by the human rights activist under the Howard Government in the past decade. The multicultural policy also results due to general repercussion against liberal social movements surrounding groups such as the native people, feminist, ecologists and trade unionist over the decades. Due to such advocacy, the Australian environment has witnessed a shift of governance and policy conceptualization from quasi-pluralist model of ethnic governance to civic nationalist steered by the leadership of Howard government. Australia Multicultural Population Australia has a unique population in that 25% of them were born oversees and 43% of the national population are either born oversees or have one parent born oversees making it a country of multicultural population (Skywirk, 2013). In addition, this has been witnessed since 1945 due to the planned immigration programs, which have resulted into 6million people coming to Australia from ov er 150 countries in the globe (Skwirk, 2013). People wishing to migrate to Australia will not be denied entry based on race, ethnicity, religion or gender since selection of immigrants has been non-discriminatory over the years (Dunn & Forrest, 2006). This diversity in Majority of the Australia Immigrants are from the U.K, which represent over a million immigrants since 1970s to date. The immigration program of Australia and the multicultural policy is accommodative since it also tolerates the religious diversity by allowing populations from diverse religious backgrounds. In addition, the religious diverse groups are represented by the people from turkey, Lebanon and India who are equally welcomed in Australia. By 1980s, the Australian population was so diverse that it contained people from Vietnam, Philippines, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Cambodia and china, both in significant numbers making it a country of all races (Australia Government, 2013). The official language in Australia is Eng lish but there are over 200 languages from different communities including the 48 languages from the indigenous people hence about 16% speak other languages other than English. The Asian countries form the largest chunk of Australian immigrants representing 7% of the Australian overall population (Skwirk, 2013). Most of these are Chinese and Vietnamese representing the fifth and the fourth largest population in Australia respectively. By 1901, the Immigration Restriction Act restricted most of the early immigrant groups leading to fewer populations of immigrants during that period and this was before the realization that immigration is crucial for the social and the economic future of Australia. Australian multicultural policy principles (Australian Government, 2013) Principle 1: Due to the diversity of the Australian population in terms of both ethnicity/race and religion, it makes it a multicultural nation with more vibrant and creative ideologies, which helps in nation building. An enduring theme of Australian multicultural policy is that everyone belongs and enjoys all the benefits that come with the rich diversity. Moreover, the Austrians celebrate the diversity and recognize that the expression of diversity is embedded within their